2016

› Daniel Hope and New Century Chamber Orchestra Join in “Artistic Partnership”

17.10.2016

British Violinist Daniel Hope Is Named Artistic Partner of New Century Chamber Orchestra; Three-Season Appointment Launches in 2017/18 Season

It was announced yesterday that British violinist Daniel Hope has been named Artistic Partner of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco for a three-season appointment, to launch next fall. This position will see Hope – who already serves as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival – direct the orchestra from the violin in multiple performances each season, providing artistic continuity throughout the orchestra’s search for a permanent successor to Music Director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, who steps down at the end of the present season.

Philip Wilder, Executive Director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, said:

“We are delighted that Daniel Hope has agreed to partner with us during this time of transition. Daniel’s creativity and experience as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral leader and music advocate makes him uniquely qualified to guide the New Century Chamber Orchestra into its next chapter. I have known Daniel for more than a decade, and have witnessed his ability to create one-of-a-kind programming and experiences for audiences. With Daniel’s artistic guidance, our audiences are guaranteed a thrilling ride over the next three years.”

Founded in 1992 by cellist Miriam Perkoff and violist Wieslaw Pogorzelski, the New Century Chamber Orchestra is one of only a handful of conductorless ensembles in the world. A 19-member string ensemble, it comprises musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area and across the U.S. and Europe, who make all musical decisions collaboratively. Hope made his debut with the orchestra this past February as Guest Concertmaster in a special centennial tribute to his late mentor, Yehudi Menuhin. This impressed the San Francisco Chronicle with its “winning spirit of camaraderie and collaboration,” and prompted the San Jose Mercury News to observe: “If the concert represented a high-water mark for the orchestra, what it suggested for the future was downright tantalizing. Hope merged brilliantly with the NCCO musicians — and infused each of the evening’s performances with consummate flair.”

As the New York Times put it, Daniel Hope’s “thriving solo career” is “built on inventive programming and a probing interpretive style.” He has appeared as soloist with the Boston and Chicago Symphonies and the foremost orchestras of Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Moscow and Vienna. In September 2016 he became Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, succeeding Sir Roger Norrington. Celebrated for his musical versatility as well as his dedication to humanitarian causes, he was recognized last year with the prestigious European Cultural Prize for Music, whose previous laureates include Daniel Barenboim, Plácido Domingo and the Berlin Philharmonic. As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2007, he has received six ECHO Klassik Awards and five Grammy nominations. As well as publishing four bestselling books in Germany, he contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal, writes scripts for collaborative performances with actors Klaus Maria Brandauer and Mia Farrow, and regularly produces radio and television shows around the world.

On Tuesday September 27th 2016, Daniel Hope began his new role as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZKO).
The opening concert of the new season, which took place at the Tonhalle in Zurich, is an example of the kind of programming which Daniel will be bringing to the orchestra.
The concert began with Mendelssohn’s Octet in the original chamber version; followed by works for Violin and Orchestra by Bach and Weinberg, and concluding with Beethoven’s Symphony No 2.

Following the Season Opening, Daniel and the ZKO travelled to Asia to perform in South Korea (Seoul Arts Center, Pusan Concert Hall, Tongyeong International Concert Hall) and China (Oriental Arts Center, Shanghai).

We hope to welcome you to a future performance by Daniel Hope, somewhere in the world!

› You can hear Daniel’s WDR3 Radio Show Every Sunday

30.09.2016

Every Sunday, from January to December, you can listen to Daniel’s own radio show for the German broadcaster, WDR3. The programme is aired from 13:00-15:00 CET and can be heard outside of Germany live on the net at www.wdr3.de

2015

› DANIEL HOPE AWARDED THE 2015 EUROPEAN CULTURAL PRIZE FOR MUSIC

20.07.2015

A few days ago, Daniel Hope’s performance in the Dresden Frauenkirche was received with standing ovations. He will be returning to Dresden on 2nd October to receive the 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music.

“Daniel Hope is a great artist, whose serious and refreshing approach to classical music creates generations of new listeners”, according to the President of the European Cultural Foundation, Tilo Braune. “He builds bridges between different musical worlds and thus stands for tolerance and openness.” The New York Times wrote of him: „You never know what the brilliant British violinist Daniel Hope, acclaimed for his ventures into contemporary music, will do next.“
An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist, Daniel Hope has toured the world as soloist for 25 years, receiving many awards including six ECHO Klassik Prizes, the Diapason d’Or of the Year and the Edison Music Award. He has performed with musicians including Yehudi Menuhin and Kurt Masur, he is the Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival, and even a bestselling author. The 2016/17 season will see him succeed Sir Roger Norrington as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.

This summer Daniel Hope is touring the festivals of Aspen, Bristol Proms, Edinburgh, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Merano, Pollença, Ravenna, Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein and Tokyo with partners including Paavo Järvi, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Berlin Baroque Soloists, the Ebène Quartet, Nicholas Angelich, Klaus Maria Brandauer and many more.

Hope says: “I am honoured to receive the 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music. Our cultural heritage in Europe is unique and I see it as the responsibility of every artist to protect, to celebrate and to share this heritage. I’m particularly delighted to be receiving this award in the Dresden Frauenkirche – an historical landmark in which I have been privileged to make music on several occasions, and a place which represents not only the preservation of culture but symbolises the understanding of different cultures in a unique way.”

The European Cultural Prize this October celebrates the 25th anniversary of German Reunification. Actor Manfred Krug will be honoured for his life’s work, tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Angela Gheorghiu are awarded the European Soloist Prizes. Conductor Kristjan Järvi joins forces with the Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic to receive the European Young Artists Prize.

Presenting the awards will be the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, the Music Director of the Berlin State Opera Daniel Barenboim, the film producer Regina Ziegler, actor Charles Brauer and the director of the Vienna State Opera, Dominique Meyer.

› Daniel returns to Bristol Proms, July 27

15.07.2015

On July 27th, Daniel curates a very special performance at the Bristol Proms July 27 for „Tchaikovsky vs. Brahms“
an evening of music and spoken word at the Bristol Old Vic, which presents the story of the fierce rivalry between these two iconic 19th-century composers. Daniel is joined by a group of incredible chamber musicians from around the world and British actor Zubin Varla. Details here: http://eepurl.com/bsVWpD

› Daniel Hope Is Named Music Director of Zurich Chamber Orchestra

28.04.2015

In a press conference in Zurich today, it was announced that celebrated violinist Daniel Hope has been named Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, succeeding Sir Roger Norrington. Hope will start preparing for the new post this year, and looks forward to taking it up officially in 2016. Michael Bühler, Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, described the appointment as heralding a new era in the chamber ensemble’s history, saying: “We want to expand our presence on the international music stage. Daniel Hope is a charismatic star violinist, who is also a well known producer, best-selling author and TV presenter, and is at home practically anywhere in the world. This communicative artist has a particularly clear understanding of how to build bridges between genres and generations.”

Daniel continues his regular contribution to the Wall Street Journal with an article about the European composers who escaped the Nazis and settled in Hollywood, helping to create „The Hollywood Sound“.

2014

› Daniel receives the EDISON Music Award in Utrecht, Holland

29.11.2014

Tonight in a ceremony recorded for television in Utrecht, Holland, Daniel was awarded the „EDISON KLASSIEK“ Prize 2014. The Edison Music Award is an annual Dutch music prize, awarded for outstanding achievement in music. It is one of the oldest music awards in the world. Dutch fans can view Daniel’s performance with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and Markus Stenz on Sunday, 30th November at 13:00 CET on the NPO 2 TV Channel. Former Edison Award winners include Miles Davis, Marlene Dietrich and Eric Clapton. Further info here: http://www.edisons.nl/klassiek/nieuws/daniel-hope-krijgt-speciale-edison-0

› DANIEL HOPE WINS THE 2014 EDISON AWARD, SPECIAL PRIZE

05.11.2014

DANIEL HOPE WINS THE 2014 EDISON AWARD, SPECIAL PRIZE: For immediate release: „The Edison Foundation in Holland has awarded British violinist Daniel Hope a „Special Edison“ Prize. This prize honors musicians who have achieved great success in the world of classical music but also salutes their groundbreaking approach. The winners dare to be innovative, to experiment and to work hard to reach new audiences at an exceptional level.The Edison Ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 29th at Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht. Daniel Hope will attend and perform works from his latest Deutsche Grammophon album „Escape to Paradise“ with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest under Markus Stenz. The concert will be recorded for Dutch television and broadcast the next day, November 30, by NPO2.“

There are times in South Africa when mayhem, not music, is in the air. I happen to be here just as the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius winds up. At the same time we are recreating in music and words the life of a very different South African.

Nat Nakasa was a writer who ruled out hatred and self-pity but revelled in picking out the absurdities sewn into the fabric of Apartheid. The system sent its masters mad, he noted, and he had the temerity to sympathize. His refusal to play the race card places him in the Mandela camp, far ahead of his time and it is little wonder that he baffled his friends and angered his enemies.

In the early 1960s Nakasa landed a job on Drum magazine, where he arrived on his first day carrying a tennis racket and a typewriter, and happily admitted he couldn’t operate either. Drum was already legendary; its young black journalists celebrated style, energy, laughter – all in short supply in 1960s South Africa. When Nakasa began writing incisive, sardonic essays on the cruel absurdities of life under Apartheid, the security police marked him down as a dangerous subversive. They were wrong, but almost everyone was wrong about Nakasa.

When Carnegie Hall invited me – as a South African-born violinist – to ‚create something big‘ this October for their UBUNTU Festival, which also marks 20 years of democracy in South Africa, I asked my father, Christopher Hope, one of the country’s most important writers, to come up with a project on which we could work together. ‚Let’s bring Nakasa back to life on stage‘, he said and subsequently wrote the script of A Distant Drum.

A Distant Drum is a mix of music and poetry, and it re-casts the life of Nat Nakasa as a fairy tale – Cinderella gone sadly awry. Like many in Sophiatown, that hive of young, black artists, Nakasa dreamt of America, which the music and movies of the black Jo’burg townships pictured as paradise. With the encouragement of a fairy godfather, Jack Thompson, head of the Farfield Foundation, Nat won a Nieman Scholarship to Harvard. But he was denied a passport, a sanction often applied by the Apartheid regime. Instead Nakasa took an exit permit, a one-way escape route. What Nat did not know was that Jack Thompson’s charitable Foundation was a CIA front which was funding magazines, writers, composers and painters around the world who, it was felt, might prove themselves to be useful assets in the Cold War.

At Harvard, Nakasa again found himself out of place. He travelled down south and wrote about the civil rights marches. He listened to Martin Luther King, Jr. He was startled when his liberal Harvard friends pitied black South Africans, but seemed blissfully unaware of how things were for black Americans in their own segregated South.

When the authorities in the US declined to renew his one-year visa, Nat became, in his words, ‘a native of nowhere’. There were rumours of drink and depression and one morning, on July 14, 1965, Nathaniel Ndazana Nakasa jumped or fell from the window of Thompson’s New York apartment. He was 28. Even in death, the South African government refused to allow him to return and he was buried in upstate New York.

The music in our production is rather like Nat Nakasa himself, a wanderer between different worlds, Africa and the USA, Johannesburg and Manhattan. What our composer, Ralf Schmid, has done, is to create a musical language that reaches across cultural boundaries, just as Nakasa moved between different worlds. Music from Africa, Europe and America is parodied, or imitated, much as Nakasa subverted and parodied the iron rules of the regime he detested. The ensemble is made up of piano/keyboards, violin, cello, piano, bass, drums, along with a barrage of live electronics that mimic a typewriter, tennis ball, heartbeat and even pre-recorded South African choirs. This creates an extraordinary soundscape, allowing the musicians, Ralf Schmid, Jason Marsalis, Vincent Ségal, Michael Olatuja and me the freedom to improvise. The rhymes and rhythms of the piece reflect the bizarre world of Apartheid.

A Distant Drum is a dark comedy, like so much of South African life. You are never quite sure whether to laugh or cry, so you do a bit of both. A few months ago, Nakasa was finally brought home and reburied in South Africa. But then, in so many ways, I think he never really left. And to play Nat’s life at Carnegie Hall, in New York, where Nakasa lived and lay buried for so many years, seems fitting – and he would have loved the irony.

› CD Sales in Germany – Daniel Hope – No 1 and No 15

26.09.2014

„Escape to Paradise“ is at No 1 in this month’s German classical charts. A big thank you to everyone for your support! This album means a great deal to Daniel – it’s been a long time in the making and the journey has only just begun.Klassik Bestseller

From Korngold to Sting via “Cinema Paradiso”: in this album Daniel Hope shines a new light on Hollywood scores as he takes a widescreen musical journey, seeking out the echoes of exiled European composers.

The British Press is unanimous about Daniel’s performance of Gabriel Prokofiev’s new Violin Concerto ‚1914‘, premièred at the BBC Proms earlier this week with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic under conductor Sascha Goetzel.

THE TIMES (4 Stars): „…the sheer dislocating bitterness of the writing, both for Daniel Hope, the superb soloist, and for the orchestra…it’s the best thing Gabriel Prokofiev has written“.

THE INDEPENDENT (4 Stars): „the programme for this work is indeed specific, including savagery, shell-shock, and sardonic imperial marches: the rationale is pure Shostakovich, though more literal. Daniel Hope, the instigator of this work, played its stratospherically high solo part with flawless accuracy.“

THE GUARDIAN (4 Stars): „One work, however, stood apart. Daniel Hope was the soloist in the world premiere of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 1 „1914“ – an ambitious depiction of Europe’s descent into war. It contained some startling effects. The BIPO sounded good in it, and Hope impressed by playing atrociously difficult music from memory.“

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (4 Stars) calls the whole concert „Superbly rich“, writing of the Prokofiev, that „it created an extraordinary atmosphere, at once sombre, tender and surreal“.

„The DVD is superbly produced. The documentary portion, connecting interviews, music and the visit to the Ghetto and the small fortress is both tasteful and moving. The singing by Anne Sofie von Otter, her reading and the connection to her family history are more than poignant. The same applies to the words of Daniel Hope; both his playing and is family history are exceptional. The musical portion of the DVD, the works by those composers created in the Ghetto and elsewhere, are deeply sensitive, tasteful and help preserve the music of this time. Best regards and thanks“
Thelma Cohen, Beit Theresienstadt – Givat Haim Ihud, Israel (www.bterezin.org.il)

Daniel’s new film about the Theresienstadt concentration camp, „Refuge in Music“ will be broadcast on January 27th at 23:10 CET by Bayerische Rundfunk TV. It features Alice Herz-Sommer, Coco Schumann, Anne Sofie von Otter and Christian Gerhaher. More infos here:

From Monday 16th December, Daniel Hope will be ARTIST OF THE WEEK on BBC Radio 3’s ‚Essential Classics‘. All week long, between 9am and noon, the BBC will be airing an extensive selection of Daniel’s recordings, including the concerti of Bruch, Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi and Mendelssohn! Tune in at 10am GMT or you can stream the broadcasts and listen again here: LINK

› Daniel Hope to perform at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate this Sunday, November 10 at 18:00 CET

04.11.2013

On November 10, Daniel Hope will perform at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in a ceremony honoring the victims of the so-called “Kristallnacht.” Also known as the Night of Broken Glass, the massacre of November 9-10th, 1938, alerted the world to the barbarism of the Nazis. This year’s ceremony, which marks the 75th anniversary of “Kristallnacht,” invites everyone, especially Berlin’s schoolchildren and students, to come together at the Brandenburg Gate in a memorial that signals the value of diversity in today’s Germany and promotes vigilance against all forms of intolerance, racism, anti-Semitism, and violence. Read the press release here:
LINK: 21cmediagroup
LINK: Berlin

Throughout October Deutsche Grammophon will be releasing Daniel Hope’s new DVD „Refuge in Music“ around the world. The film tells the story of two extraordinary musicians, Alice Herz-Sommer (109) and Coco Schumann (89) who survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp and whose performances brought comfort and hope to so many. All artists in this film appeared without a fee, and all artist royalties will be donated to charity.

2nd September, 22:25h (CET) on 3SAT: Daniel will be the focus of a TV documentary, to be broadcast on the 3SAT tv channel on September 2. „Berg und Geist“ recalls the story of his childhood and his relationship to the town of Gstaad, Switzerland. LINK

› The Wall Street Journal: What’s Still Timeless About ‚Seasons‘ by Daniel Hope

24.08.2013

By DANIEL HOPE – I first experienced Vivaldi as a toddler at Yehudi Menuhin’s festival in Gstaad, Switzerland, in 1975. One day I heard what I thought was birdsong coming from the stage. It was the opening solo of „La Primavera“ from the „Four Seasons.“ It had such an electrifying effect that I still call it my „Vivaldi Spring.“ How was it possible to conjure up so vivid, so natural a sound, with just a violin?

Opinions of Vivaldi divide between those who adore and those who despise him. Ask the average person if he recognizes a classical melody, however poorly hummed, and he will probably nod enthusiastically at the second theme of „Spring“ from the „Four Seasons.“ On the other hand, Igor Stravinsky summed up the case for the other side when he quipped, „Vivaldi wrote one concerto, 400 times.“

Yes, Vivaldi was incredibly prolific. Nonetheless, his most famous work remains his „Four Seasons.“ To understand this masterpiece, it helps to shed a little light on the rise and fall of one of the greatest violinists of the 18th century. Born in Venice in 1678 into a desperately poor family, Vivaldi chose the priesthood early on—it offered good chances of advancement. But his plans were scuppered when his severe asthma meant that he was unable to conduct long masses and because, gossip has it, he would nip out for a glass of something during the sermon.

What changed his life forever was an unusual job offer. In 1703 a Venetian orphanage, the Ospedale della Pietà, which provided musical training to the illegitimate and abandoned young daughters of wealthy noblemen, asked Vivaldi to direct its orchestra. Vivaldi understood immediately that he had a unique ensemble at his disposal. Many of his greatest works were written for these young ladies to perform. Very soon, all Europe was enthralled.

He remained there for 12 years and, after an itinerant period working in Vicenza and Mantua, returned to Venice in 1723. The 1720s were a difficult time. The bursting of the „South Sea Bubble“ triggered a recession that spread across Europe. Vivaldi needed an income. So in 1723 he set about writing a series of works he boldly titled „Il Cimento dell‘ Armonia e dell’invenzione“ („The trial of harmony and invention“), Opus 8. It consists of 12 concerti, seven of which—“Spring,“ „Summer,“ „Autumn“ and „Winter“ (which make up the „Four Seasons“), „Pleasure,“ „The Hunt“ and „Storm at Sea“—paint astonishingly vivid, vibrant scenes. In „Storm at Sea,“ Vivaldi reached a new level of virtuosity, pushing technical mastery to the limit as the violinist’s fingers leap and shriek across the fingerboard, recalling troubled waters.

In the score, each of the four seasons are prefaced by four sonnets, possibly Vivaldi’s own, that establish each concerto as a musical image of that season. At the top of every movement, Vivaldi gives us a written description of what we are about to hear. These range from „the blazing sun’s relentless heat, men and flocks are sweltering“ („Summer“) to peasant celebrations („Autumn“) in which „the cup of Bacchus flows freely, and many find their relief in deep slumber.“ Images of warmth and wine are wonderfully intertwined. When the faithful hound „barks“ in the slow movement of „Spring,“ we experience it just as clearly as the patter of raindrops on the roof in the largo of „Winter.“ No composer of the time got music to sing, speak and depict quite like this.

Vivaldi’s fame spread. He received commissions from King Louis XV of France and Rome’s Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. When Prince Johann Ernst returned to his court at Weimar from an Italian tour, he brought with him a selection of Vivaldi’s earlier, 12-concerto „L’Estro Armonico“ („Harmonic Inspiration“) and presented it to the young organist Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was so taken with the music that he rearranged several of the concertos for different instrumentation. A legend was born. Johann Friedrich Armand von Uffenbach exclaimed: „Vivaldi played a solo accompaniment—splendid—to which he appended a cadenza which really frightened me, for such playing has never been nor can be: he brought his fingers up to only a straw’s distance from the bridge, leaving no room for the bow—and that on all four strings with imitations and incredible speed.“

But Vivaldi’s fame was eventually to become his greatest enemy. People said that „Il Prete rosso“ („the red priest,“ due to his flowing red locks) was surely in league with the devil—seducing those poor defenseless orphans, whose corsets he untied with a mere flick of his bow. The pope threatened him with excommunication. Suddenly, he was out of fashion. Once again he was broke. In May 1740, he headed to Vienna, where Emperor Charles VI had once offered him a position. He died there a year later, and was buried in a pauper’s grave.

Centuries passed. Dust gathered on the red priest’s music. A revival of sorts began when scholars in Dresden began to uncover Vivaldi manuscripts in the 1920s. But what really redeemed him was the record industry. Alfredo Campoli released a live recording of the „Four Seasons“ in 1939. But, at least indirectly, the greatest revival of the „Seasons“ occurred thanks to Hollywood. Louis Kaufman, an American violinist and concertmaster for more than 400 movie soundtracks, including „Gone With the Wind“ and „Cleopatra,“ recorded the „Four Seasons“ for the Concert Hall Society. It won the 1950 Grand Prix du Disque.

Today the „Four Seasons,“ with more than 1,000 available recordings, are not just rediscovered—they are being reimagined. Astor Piazzolla, Uri Caine, Philip Glass and others have all created their own versions. In Spring 2012, I received an enigmatic call from the British composer Max Richter, who said he wanted to „recompose“ the „Four Seasons“ for me. His problem, he explained, was not with the music, but how we have treated it. We are subjected to it in supermarkets, elevators or when a caller puts you on hold. Like many of us, he was deeply fond of the „Seasons“ but felt a degree of irritation at the music’s ubiquity. He told me that because Vivaldi’s music is made up of regular patterns, it has affinities with the seriality of contemporary postminimalism, one style in which he composes. Therefore, he said, the moment seemed ideal to reimagine a new way of hearing it.

I had always shied away from recording Vivaldi’s original. There are simply too many other versions already out there. But Mr. Richter’s reworking meant listening again to what is constantly new in a piece we think we are hearing when, really, we just blank it out. The album, „Recomposed By Max Richter: Four Seasons,“ was released late last year. With his old warhorse refitted for the 21st century, the inimitable red priest rides again.

article appeared August 23, 2013, on page C13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal

› See Daniel’s filmed performance for NPR

21.08.2013

Daniel was recently in New York to film a performance at the American Museum of Natural History for NPR, with the jazz bassist Ben Allison. You can see them here performing two pieces from „Spheres“: Westhoff’s ‚Imitazione delle Campane‘ and Max Richter’s ‚Berlin by Overnight‘, as well as a special arrangement of Bach’s Air. Watch it here: LINK

We are delighted to announce that the Deutsche Grammophon album, „Vivaldi Recomposed“ (Max Richter and Daniel Hope) has been awarded the 2013 ECHO KLASSIK prize in the category ‚Klassik ohne Grenzen‘ (‚Classical Music without Boundaries‘). This will be Daniel’s 6th ECHO trophy. The televised awards ceremony will take place on October 6th at the Konzerthaus Berlin. Other winners this year include Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Martha Argerich, Joyce DiDonato, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Ian Bostridge. For the full winners list and info click here.

› No 1 Classical album in the UK!

05.08.2013

Daniel Hope’s CD „Spheres“ is the No 1 Classical album in the UK! LINK

CD „Vivaldi Recomposed“ is at position 7 and in addition Daniel Hope is featured on Einaudi’s album which is No2.

So 3 times in the top 10 or twice in the top 2 – what sounds better?

› Stunning review in The Guardian for Daniel’s performance of the Korngold Violin Concerto

06.05.2013

Rian Evans writes of Daniel’s recent performance of the Korngold Concerto: „Hope’s tone was darkly resonant, his playing as virtuosic as that of Jascha Heifitz, who premiered the work. The depth he invested in the music was striking, demanding that it be treated seriously as absolute music, albeit passionately romantic, and taking away the schmaltzy air that sometimes surrounds it. Hope’s integrity in these matters puts him in a league of his own.“ Read the full review here:http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/may/06/bbcnow-sondergard-review

› SPHERES in Concert – Berlin

04.03.2013

Daniel Hope will perform the „SPHERES“ programme on 30th April 2013 in Berlin

› 10th anniversary as Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival

01.03.2013

From March 20-April 6, Daniel celebrates his 10th anniversary as Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival. The SMF is one of the most diverse and cutting edge music festivals in the world. 17 Days, 100 Concerts, All Music Genres. Check out the season here.

› Daniel Hope Releases the Astronomy-Inspired DG Album “Spheres” and Celebrates 10 Years of Co-Leading the Savannah Music Festival

11.02.2013

“An artist of both dazzle and depth.”— New Yorker

Violinist Daniel Hope – whose first half of the season ranged characteristically far and wide on record and on stage – now looks forward to a red-letter spring. On March 12, he releases his second Deutsche Grammophon album of the season: the astronomy-inspired Spheres, which evokes “musica universalis” with pieces ranging from the Baroque to the 21st century. From March 21 to April 5, Hope celebrates his 10th anniversaryas Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival with his annual residency, which sees him collaborate with such great peers as Anne Sofie von Otter, David Finckel and Jaime Laredo. Prior to the album release and the residency, Hope performs Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 – a work that appeared on his lauded 2011 DG album The Romantic Violinist – with the Indianapolis Symphony under Krzysztof Urbanski (Feb 14-16). Gramophone recently chose Hope’s recording of the ever-popular Bruch concerto as the one to have in its „Gramophone Guide to the Essentials.“

Spheres

Hope’s Spheresexplores the idea, initiated by Pythagoras, that planetary movement creates its own kind of music – “musica universalis.” This idea has fascinated philosophers, musicians and mathematicians for centuries. Hope’s album offers evocative music in a myriad styles, from fresh arrangements of Baroque works (by J.S. Bach and J.P. Westhoff) and late-Romantic pieces (Fauré) to works of 20th-century minimalism (classics by Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman) and the 21st-century East (Lera Auerbach, Elena Kats-Chernin). There are such contemporary gems as Karsten Gundermann’s “Nachspiel” from his Faust, as well as new works written for Hope by up-and-comers Alex Baranowski (who composed the melody-rich Musica Universalis), Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of Sergey, who penned the title work), Ludovico Einaudi and Aleksey Igudesman. On the CD, Hope also teams up again with composer Max Richter, with whom he collaborated on the recent critically and commercially successful DG release Vivaldi Recomposed, named iTunes Best Contemporary Classical Album for the U.S. for 2012.

Hope recorded Spheres, which features five world premiere recordings, in the old East German broadcasting hall in Berlin alongside the Rundfunkchor Berlin, pianist Jacques Ammon, and the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin under Simon Halsey.

There is a scene-setting trailer for Spheres available online here, as well as a complete track list here. In the trailer, Hope says: “There is every kind of emotion on this album, from the most serene and beautiful to upbeat tempos and jazzy, lively things. The idea is: where can music transport you, to what kind of a plane? That, for me, is very exciting.”

Watch Hope talk about the new album with the BBC here: http://bbc.in/155WR4m

Savannah Music Festival: 10 Years

The Savannah Music Festival, run by Rob Gibson, founding director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, commissions and stages original, one-time only productions, collaborations and premieres over a three-week period every spring. Discussing the cross-genre ethos of the Savannah Music Festival last year with the Wall Street Journal, Hope said: “Savannah’s hallmark is its cultural diversity, and on any given day our programs range from, say, the Baroque to Brahms to Edgar Meyer, from Fauré to Portuguese fado, from Béla Fleck to Chris Thile. It’s a celebration of music in all its many forms.” With this spring’s festival, taking place from March 21 to April 5, Hope celebrates his 10th anniversary as its Associate Artistic Director. Hope says: “I look forward to my time in Savannah each year. It is a unique, exciting opportunity to explore music and art with good friends, onstage and off.”

On March 21 in Savannah, it’s Daniel Hope & Friends with mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, performing Brahms and Beethoven; on March 22, Hope, von Otter and company perform Dvorák, Loeffler, Ives and Copland. Hope teams with cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio on March 27. Hope & Friends play quintets by Schubert, Brahms and a world premiere by Alexandra Du Bois on March 30, then it’s the Mendelssohn Octet and more with Hope joining the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Miami String Quartet on April 1. On April 2, Hope & Friends gather again, this time to play string ensemble works by Mozart, Dvorák and Richard Strauss, and give the world premiere of The Sun was Chasing Venus, a “viola quintet” written by British composer Charlotte Bray. Hope closes out his Savanah season on April 5 in a chamber concert featuring works by Schubert and Beethoven.

Vivaldi Recomposed on NPR Music

In December, Daniel Hope joined composer Max Richter for two performances of Vivaldi Recomposed, Richter’s “bewitchingly brilliant” (Wall Street Journal) reimagining of Vivaldi’s iconic Four Seasons, at the New York’s downtown venue Le Poisson Rouge. The New York Times praised Hope for “demonstrating his usual combination of virtuosity and insight” and NPR Music was on hand to record the concert for its online video series “Field Recordings.”

Wednesday, November 14, 2012: from the beginning of the current season at Lucerne’s KKL concert and conference centre, Daniel Hope becomes Principal Guest Artist of the Festival Strings Lucerne. This arrangement will initially cover the next two years, until the end of the 2013/2014 season. The position has been specifically created for Daniel Hope.

As in the orchestra’s earliest days, there will now be dual command exercised by the leader, as Artistic Director, and a violin soloist in a special relationship with the Ensemble; both musicians will define the Ensemble’s artistic course in the future and launch new initiatives.

This reflects a general artistic reorientation of the Ensemble at the highest level, following the departure of conductor Achim Fiedler in Summer 2012. Achim Fiedler exercised this function for 14 years, as direct successor to Rudolf Baumgartner, who had founded the exquisite string chamber orchestra in 1956, together with the legendary violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan.

The new Artistic Director will be the Australian-Swiss violinist Daniel Dodds, who joined the ensemble in 2000. Also a longstanding member of Claudio Abbado’s renowned Lucerne Festival Orchestra, he recently made his debut as soloist with the highly acclaimed album Time Transcending on Oehms Classics. He also enjoys guest-leader status with groups such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Vladimir Ashkenazy) and the Australian World Orchestra (Zubin Mehta).

British violinist, Daniel Hope, an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon since 2007, is currently storming the charts with Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed, both in Germany and in the USA. In more than 20 recordings he has earned worldwide acclaim such as the French Diapason d’Or, the Classical Brit Award, the German Record Prize, Belgium’s Prix Caecilia, five ECHO Klassik prizes and numerous Grammy nominations. Hope has performed with all the world’s major orchestras at Festivals including Salzburg, the BBC Proms, Lucerne, Hollywood Bowl, Verbier, Ravinia and Tanglewood.

The team will be completed by musician and arts manager Hans-Christoph Mauruschat as Managing Director.

The first concerts featuring Daniel Hope in his new function will take place on January 18 2013 in Olten (Switzerland), on January 19 at the KKL in Lucerne and on January 26 at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main.

› In search of my grandfather: a leading violinist goes looking for a hero

13.11.2012

The elderly lady who approached the table where I was signing Cds after the concert had that beady look in her eye. ‘Ah, Misstah Hawp’, she said in English, with a thick, German accent, ‘I hope you are vell, yes?’ As her hysterical laughter machine-gunned its way through the lobby, I found myself contemplating what would happen if I had a penny for every time someone has attempted to make a joke out of my surname (or really thinks I’ve not heard it before). The true origin of my name, however, has a rather more unusual story attached.

Nomen est Omen

By Daniel Hope, 12 November 2012

When I wrote my first book a few years ago, a German memoir entitled ‘Familienstücke’ (or ‘Family Pieces’), I traced the history of my family back to the 16th century. Whilst conducting my research, one thing became clear to me. Within our family, conflict has often been the order of the day.

On my mother’s side, there were German Jews who fled Berlin in the 1930s. Both great-grandfathers were highly decorated for their service in the German Army during World War I, but Hitler’s madness at Nuremberg overruled any feelings of almost blind patriotism they struggled to retain. The family villa in Berlin was personally confiscated by Von Ribbentropp and turned into one of the centres for Nazi code-breaking, a sort of German Bletchley Park. Those who survived got as far away as they could: either to the United States or South Africa.

On my father’s side there were Irish Catholics. My father’s grandfather had run away from Ireland as a teenager in the late 19th century. Like many young Irishmen of his day, he was a contradiction: an Irish nationalist, yet loyal to the British Empire abroad. He sailed third class to South Africa but was proud of the fact that Robert Baden-Powell was aboard the same vessel, no doubt travelling higher up.

In 1899 the Boers occupied the British garrisons at Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. During the siege of Mafeking, a Cadet Corps of 11-16 year old boys stood guard, carried messages, assisted in hospitals, and freed up soldiers and grown men, enabling them to fight. Baden-Powell defended Mafeking with a thousand men and boys against a Boer army of nine thousand. One of those boys was my great-grandfather, Daniel McKenna, who gave me my first name.

My father, the novelist Christopher Hope, was born in South Africa in 1944. His father, Dennis Tully, had volunteered to join the Allied war effort as a fighter pilot. He was transfered to Cairo, where Rommel’s army was fast approaching the city. It was my great aunt who pleaded with Dennis not to remain a fighter pilot, but instead to switch to bombers. She had heard that life expectancy amongst bombers was marginally higher. Dennis complied and underwent the necessary training in Cairo.

When my father was born, he was severely ill. He had lost a lot of blood and needed a transfusion. Dennis was given compassionate leave, as he had the same rare blood type. He flew home to Johannesburg where he spent three days in the hospital at my father’s bedside. The transfusions were successful, but as Dennis left South Africa again he confided in my great aunt: ‘God has saved my son’s life. He will take mine.’ Dennis flew north on a Sunday. The following Saturday he was dead. His plane crashed, he and his crew were killed instantly. The exact cause was never determined, but it is well known that some types of bomber were highly erratic and stalled in mid-air for no reason.

And so Dennis Tully became a legendary figure of the family. First of all for my father, growing up as a child and wondering what his father must have been like. On the piano in our house in London, when I was growing up, there stood the only photo of Dennis Tully we had. A fine-looking young man in a crisp lieutenant’s uniform, gazing out at me with a reassuring smile as I did my daily violin practice – my South African grandfather who loved to sing, and whom his friends affectionately called ‘Bing’.

Gathering research for my book, I had visited my father at his home in the Languedoc, and we spoke in depth about Dennis Tully. I asked him whether he knew if there was a grave. He didn’t know – neither the day on which his father died nor where such a grave might be, as it was something his mother never shared with him. That night we sat down at the computer. Within a few minutes I found myself on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. As Dennis had been a member of the South African Air Force, I thought this might be a good place to start. I entered his name and the year of his death, which I assumed to be 1944, the year of my father’s birth. We could hardly believe our eyes as the search engine came up with the following lines:

“Dennis Hubert Tully, Lieutenant, son of William and Mary Tully; husband of Kathleen Tully, of Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa. Remembered with honour.”

One click later and we were looking at a digital image of my grandfather’s grave. It is located in a British military cemetery in the town of Ramla, formerly Palestine, and now Israel. Up to this moment, the family had always said when refering to Dennis was that he must be ‘somewhere in Africa’. But that of all places he was laid to rest in Israel was a development I found both unusual and very moving. There was one more surprise. The tombstone recorded that Dennis had died on August 12, 1944. He was 25. I glanced at my watch – it was August 12, 2004. Sixty years to the day. My father and I sat there for a long time in silence, trying to comprehend it all.

From that moment I wanted to find a way to visit Dennis with my father. This summer the opportunity finally presented itself. As we arrived at Ben Gurion airport, my father was asked the purpose of his visit. He told the passport officer he was here to see his father, in Ramalah. “I think you mean Ramla”, the stone-faced immigration officer corrected him. “You better get the name right!” she barked. When we arrived at the cemetery, situated in a sprawling, industrial town, we found a haven of perfectly-kept green grass and some five thousand gravestones. It was blisteringly hot as we moved silently through the ranks of so many young men.

As my father pointed out to me, Ramleh, now Ramla, War Cemetery is an extraordinary mix of the fallen: Egyptians, Germans, Jews, Moslems, Indians, Turks, Palestine policemen, New Zealanders, Australians, Poles and South Africans all lie together. It dates from the First World War; most of the graves date from the Second World War; but here too are soldiers killed almost as soon as it was over, when Israeli fighters attacked British targets in their struggle to set up the state of Israel. By a bizarre coincidence, it is also the place where Adolf Eichmannn was hanged in 1962.

We found Dennis quickly. He lies on the aisle, buried next to his squadron. We spent a long time there in the oppressive heat. Above all I wanted to give my father the chance to come to terms with his first meeting with his own father. He did what perhaps any writer would do: sitting on the grass under a tree he pulled out a pen and notebook and began writing.

Later on that evening, as we recalled the emotional events of the day, my father remarked how important a name can end up being. Family names are given, not chosen. Sometimes the family name you carry – as was the case with my grandparents from Germany – may mark you for life; or even cost you your life.

I realized that a name is no joking matter. My grandmother remarried after the war, a South African called Hope. Had Dennis survived, my father’s surname, and mine, would be Tully. Small change but a world of difference. I wonder what the autograph hunters at my concerts would have made of that?

Daniel has completed the filming for his new documentary about the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Daniel’s interview with the 108 year old pianist survivor, Alice Herz-Sommer, will be part of it, as will performances by Anne Sofie von Otter, Christian Gerhaher, Bengt Forsberg and Bebe Risenfors, also featuring a live concert from March 2012 in Munich. The production is in collaboration with the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, who has been instrumental in helping to make this project happen. The film is directed by Benedict Mirow of Nightfrog Films.

All artists in the film are appearing without a fee, and all artist royalties as well as a percentage of the profits will be donated to charity.

The film will also feature the remarkable 88 year old jazz musician and member of the „Ghetto Swingers“, Coco Schumann, visiting Theresienstadt again.

On October 12th Daniel and pianist Jeffrey Kahane will give the world première of Nico Muhly’s work „Compare Notes“, at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. The work has been commissioned by the McKim Fund on behalf of Daniel and Jeffrey. The recital will also feature works by Ravel, Brahms and Mendelssohn.

› DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON RELEASES „VIVALDI RECOMPOSED“

31.08.2012

Vivaldi Recomposed – the newest release in DG’s “Recomposed” series, due in US stores on October 16 – presents Daniel Hope with the Berlin Konzerthaus Chamber Orchestra conducted by André de Ridder, in a world-premiere performance of German-British composer Max Richter’s (Shutter Island and Waltz with Bashir) vivid re-imagining of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. A preview video can be seen here. Hope expressed his enthusiasm for Richter’s work, saying, “It’s as if Max has Vivaldi’s masterpiece, as heard and seen through 21st-century ears and eyes.”

› Daniel Hope presents a radio show on BBC

19.04.2012

Daniel Hope presents a two hour radio show for the BBC featuring some of his favorite music and musicians. He also talks about his collaborations with Yehudi Menuhin, Christian Thielemann, Menahem Pressler and Sting, amongst others.

Daniel Hope is featured in the Wall Street Journal, February 9. „The playing of the British violinist Daniel Hope, who is performing at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall this Sunday, is not just distinguished by its tonal beauty, but by its compelling rhetorical quality,“ writes Barrymore Laurence Scherer

British violinist Daniel Hope has signed a long-term extension to his recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The first project under the new agreement will be ‘Hollywood Exiles’, devoted to composers who fled the Nazis and settled in America.

‘Since signing my first contract with DG in 2006, I have been privileged to plan and work with the Yellow Label on eight diverse recordings, including music composed in Theresienstadt, a Baroque journey, a tribute to Joseph Joachim, Michael Tippett’s Triple Concerto and even a musical celebration of Frederick the Great,’ he said. ‘I am delighted that both my belief in the “concept album” and DG’s unique support and encouragement have enabled me to make a very personal musical statement.’

A member of the Beaux Arts Trio from 2002-2008, Hope is a regular soloist with leading orchestras and conductors, and the recipient of the German Record Critics’ Prize and five ECHO awards.

Gramophone Magazine writes: „Max Bruch was born on this day in 1838 – we recommend listening to Gramophone critics‘ preferred recording of his Violin Concerto No 1 on Daniel Hope’s album, The Romantic Violinist“.

› Documentary for ARTE about Frederick the Great

05.01.2012

Daniel Hope’s TV documentary for ARTE about Frederick the Great and his music will be broadcast on Sunday 8th January at 15:25. The following link contains a short clip of the film. Daniel performs range of music and interviews Christian Thielemann and Kristian Bezuidenhout as well.

Gramophone Magazine writes: „Max Bruch was born on this day in 1838 – we recommend listening to Gramophone critics‘ preferred recording of his Violin Concerto No 1 on Daniel Hope’s album, The Romantic Violinist“.

On 9th December, Deutsche Grammophon will release a very special new CD with Daniel Hope and Friends, dedicated to the music of King Frederick the Great and his court composers. This release is for the German market only, but can be downloaded on Itunes and Amazon from December 9.

› Daniel Hope appointed Visiting Professor in Violin by Royal Academy of Music

04.05.2011

The Royal Academy of Music is delighted that Daniel Hope DipRAM, FRAM has accepted the post of Visiting Professor in Violin. Jo Cole, Head of Strings, has announced that Daniel will be giving masterclasses and career workshops at the Academy when his performing engagements permit. The addition of this internationally-renowned performer to the Academy’s exceptional roster of strings professors represents the Academy’s continuing desire to appoint the very best of today’s active, thriving artists to teach the next generation of talented performers.

Daniel Hope said: „I am honoured and delighted to return to the institution that helped me so intensely to pursue my studies with Zakhar Bron. I hope that during a few visits each year, I shall have a chance to give something back to the Academy and to support young artists in their quest for musical inspiration as well as an international career.“

› Daniel Hope and Jeffrey Kahane triumph on USA Recital Tour

21.02.2011

February saw Daniel Hope and renowned pianist/conductor Jeffrey Kahane perform an extensive North American duo tour. The two colleagues prepared a characteristically ambitious program that covered the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, featuring Johannes Brahms’ Opus 78 G major sonata and César Franck’s 1886 sonata in A major, his only composition in the sonata genre. The earlier twentieth-century compositions were the 1927 sonata by Erwin Schulhoff, a composer murdered by the Nazis, followed by one of Olivier Messiaen’s earliest pieces of chamber music, a set of five variations on a theme composed as a wedding present for his first wife, the violinist Claire Delbos. Messiaen was also imprisoned by the Nazis as a POW, but survived.

The tour included performances at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, Los Angeles‘ Royce Hall and Vancouver’s Chan Center for the performing arts.
The press was unanimous in their praise for this oustanding duo:

San Francisco Chronicle, February 2011: “ In a world where classical concert programs spend so much time cycling endlessly through the same familiar repertoire, a program like Thursday’s exciting duo recital by violinist Daniel Hope and pianist Jeffrey Kahane comes as a welcome – and also infuriating – reminder of how much great music audiences are routinely missing……………Hope and Kahane gave it a marvelous performance. Just as beautiful was Messiaen’s „Theme and Variations,“…………Brahms‘ First Sonata sounded ripe and rich-toned……..the Franck Sonata in A Major moved with assurance from vigorous brilliance to delicacy and back again.“

San Francisco Examiner, February 2011: „Needless to say, both Hope and Kahane mustered that energy without sacrificing a sense of the formal sonata structures that provided a foundation for this tumult. The result was a stimulating, perhaps even refreshing, reminder of just how forceful the modernists of that time were in rejecting past traditions………Thus, as had been the case with the Brahms, this was a performance that found just the right balance between passionate expressiveness and solid respect for structural foundations……..Hope and Kahane performed it with all the respect it deserved, bringing a meditative conclusion to a thought-rich evening.“

The Vancouver Sun, February 2011: “ Beyond exceptional playing, the program had another important raison d’etre: two works that I don’t think have ever featured on Vancouver programs. The tragedy of Schulhoff and the great service done by musicians who are allowing us to rediscover his fine music is a compelling story all on its own. His Second Violin Sonata, written in the late 1920s….what a reading it got from the duo! Messiaen’s Theme and Variations, written in the early 30s when the composer was in his early 20s, is something of a miracle: every second of the work shows a composer who knew exactly what he wanted and exactly who he was. Remarkable.
And remarkable chamber playing from a spectacular duo.“

EntertainmentToday.net, February 2011: „Hope is a solo violinist, and Kahane is just as adept on the piano………..the two stood on equal footing as they led a rapt audience through some jarring pieces, some beautiful pieces, and some which alternated between the two within the same movements……..The music was brilliant, the stage banter was self-deprecating and humorous, and the history lessons were appreciated.“

The ARTE TV channel will broadcast Daniel Hope’s first „ARTE LOUNGE“ television show as presenter on Tuesday 15th February at 23:45h CET on the ARTE channel. During the show, which was filmed in a club in Barcelona, he performed with and interviewed a variety of artists such as cellist Gautier Capucon, bass René Pape and the Cuarteto Casals.

The second show will be aired on 8th March, with guests including cellist Stephen Isserlis, the French jazz singer Keren Ann and the „The Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana“.

2010

› Documentary for ARTE about Frederick the Great

05.01.2012

Daniel Hope’s TV documentary for ARTE about Frederick the Great and his music will be broadcast on Sunday 8th January at 15:25. The following link contains a short clip of the film. Daniel performs range of music and interviews Christian Thielemann and Kristian Bezuidenhout as well.

› Daniel Hope rounds up an extraordinary 2010 with four spectacular New York concerts

31.12.2010

In a year that began with Daniel Hope performing to and addressing the German parliament in January 2010, December saw his return to New York for performances at Lincoln Center, the People’s Symphony and Carnegie Hall. He was joined by celebrated lute-player Paul O’Dette and a group of superb young musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for his „AIR“ programme of baroque music, a recital with young Israeli pianist Roman Rabinovich, and a performance of the Brahms Double Concerto at Carnegie Hall with cellist Paul Watkins, conducted by Jaime Laredo.

Vivien Schweitzer of the New York Times wrote: „…..Mr. Hope’s bow blurred over his instrument in a feat of impressive virtuosity…… a rendition notable for its rhythmic buoyancy, depth and improvisatory flair. ……. playing with lithe, soulful élan and a cleanly articulated sound. Mr. Hope and his colleagues also brought imaginative panache to their rocking rendition of Vivaldi’s Sonata for Two Violins…..Telemann’s Violin Concerto in A minor (was) given a brooding and fiery performance……..The encore was a lovely performance of Bach’s familiar “Air on the G String.”

Allan Kozinn of the New York Times said of the Carnegie Hall performance: „The violinist Daniel Hope and the cellist Paul Watkins each produced a rich, seductive tone and found a nuanced balance between the virtuosity and warmth that the Brahms Double Concerto demands. The orchestra’s contribution — solid, powerful and sharply articulated — kept the work’s inherent drama fully in focus.“

September 2010: Daniel Hope has just given two critically acclaimed performances of Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto at the new Copenhagen Concert Hall, with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Thomas Dausgaard.

Søren Schauser of the „Tidende Berlingske“ newspaper writes:
“Just play, or save the world at the same time? Daniel Hope wants to do both.
The British virtuoso with a clear vision ranks among the hottest names in classical music. Fortunately, the man stops by from time to time – like this week in the Danish Radio Concert Hall.

Fortunately? Yes. Because he produces a sound which is out of this world. His sky high notes float like honey into one’s ears, almost branding themselves there forever……..the air stands still under the sound of Hope’s violin. And, of course, Hope played a Schulhoff-piece as an encore – a composer who died in a Bavarian concentration camp. And for the second time; the air stands still. Brilliantly done……..”

Henrik Friis of the „Politiken“ newspaper writes:

”Violin-magician Daniel Hope proved to be exactly the happening, impressively versatile violinist that his steady stream of successful cd’s from all corners of classical music history have demonstrated. He appeared in Thursday’s concert with a playful yet poetic version of his compatriot Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto……..Hope did everything to keep a sense of danger in the material, and the combination of Britten’s surprising ways of reinventing old and worn out formulas, together with Hope’s lively expression, made the piece sound like a classic that you didn’t know you had missed. Few composers – and few artists like Hope and Dausgaard – can spellbind a whole auditorium with a simple scale …….At the same time they succeeded in making the instruments dance together……..it was profoundly musical.—“

On August 28 at 5 p.m. CET, some of Europe’s finest musicians from a variety of genres will come together to perform a special concert for an important cause. With the call to action „Tu was!”, these exciting artists seek to raise awareness about climate protection inspired by the “Rainforest Project”, a foundation dedicated to ending rainforest destruction founded by His Royal Highness Prince Charles, who himself is supporting the concert.

› Daniel Hope steps in at short notice to perform Britten’s Violin Concerto

08.06.2010

Daniel Hope has been invited by the London Symphony Orchestra to step in a short notice to replace his colleague, Janine Jansen, who has been taken ill. Daniel will perform the Violin Concerto by Benjamin Britten, accompanied by the LSO and Sir Mark Elder. The concert takes place on:

Rock legend Sting has invited Daniel to join him onstage during the opening concert of his orchestral world tour. The concert will take place on May 26th in the German town of Wolfsburg as part of the Movimentos Festival.

Sting and Daniel have performed and recorded together in the past. In November 2009 both musicians were interviewed together for the Frankfurt Allgemeine newspaper. You can also see Daniel’s video blog with Sting in the „Broadcaster“ section of DanielHope.com

› „Ba-ROCK“ project at the Beethovenfest in Bonn on 18th September 2010

18.05.2010

Daniel Hope Daniel launches his „Ba-ROCK“ project at the Beethovenfest in Bonn, concert to take place on 18th September.

On March 1st Daniel Hope launches a 9-concert tour around Germany and Switzerland, performing highlights from his new Deutsche Grammophon album „AIR“. Venues include the Laeiszhalle Hamburg (March 2) and Konzerthaus Berlin (March 3). The tour concludes with performances featuring the German television host and acclaimed author Roger Willemsen.

› Daniel Hope to perform in the Bundestag, German parliament, on 27th January

15.01.2010

Daniel Hope has received an official invitation from the President of the German Parliament (Bundestag), Dr Norbert Lammert to perform in the Germany parliament (Bundestag, formerly known as Reichstag).

The 27th January is the day on which Germany officially recognises all victims of the Nazis, and there is traditionally a state act of remembrance. At this year’s ceremony the guest speaker will be the President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres. In addition the Chancellor, Mrs Angela Merkel, the entire German cabinet and all ministers will be present.

Daniel Hope will perform his own arrangement of „Kaddish“ by Ravel for solo violin during the ceremony. Hope’s grand parents and great grandparents were forced to flee Berlin in 1938.

The ceremony will be broadcast live on German television an 12 noon CET.

Daniel Hope will make his debut as television presenter in a live TV show on January 9th at 20:15 (CET). „Die schönsten Opern aller Zeiten“ („The greatest operas of all time“) is a one-time production by Germany’s ZDF and 3sat television channels. Since May 2009, complete opera productions have been broadcast in their entirety on the 3sat TV Channel, which is renowned for its cultural content and award-winning documentaries. Television viewers have subsequently been given the chance to vote on their favourite opera, and the shortlist of 10 operas will be the focus of the show on 9th February, at the end of which, one ‚winner‘ will be announced.

The venue for the show is Berlin’s innovative Radialsystem . During the evening, arias from the 10 operas will be performed live by a range of some of the world’s finest singers, including Annette Dasch, Joseph Calleja, Mojca Erdmann, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Ermonela Jaho and Kate Aldrich. The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Marco Armiliato. Other guests include Christian Thielemann, Rene Jacobs and Edda Moser.

Daniel Hope will present the show live, together with his co-presenter, Austrian television celebrity Mirjam Weichselbraun.

The show will be broadcast Europe-wide on the 3sat Channel, January 9th, from 20:15 (CET) to 22:15 (CET), and repeated at a later date on ZDF Theaterkanal.

2009

› Daniel Hope performs live onstage with Sting in Baden Baden, December 17

14.12.2009

Daniel Hope will perform for the first time live with Rock legend Sting, at Baden Baden’s Festspielhaus on December 17th. It is one of only four worldwide concerts that Sting is giving to promote his new album, „If on a winter’s night“.

It will be the first time that the two musicians will appear live onstage together.

On DanielHope.com you can see Daniel’s private video blog documenting a day he recently spent with Sting, and read the two musicians‘ joint interview in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

› Hope triumphs with Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko

13.12.2009

Daniel Hope gave two critically acclaimed performances of the Elgar Violin Concerto in December 2009 with the Oslo Philharmonic conducted by Vasily Petrenko. It was Hope’s second visit to Oslo with the orchestra. The reviews are unequivocal. Here is a selection from Oslo’s two leading newspapers:

Aftenposten, Oslo, 7th December 2009

„Vasily Petrenko and Daniel Hope delivered nothing less than a gorgeous concert this week…………..The work is incredibly demanding for both soloist and orchestra. However, Daniel Hope is a suitably brilliant performer and interpreter. The way he forced this 50-minute long musical development into one single stretch without even one uninteresting minute is nothing short of miraculous…….

Hope could gather the entire British Commonwealth in one sul tasto, and his phrasing superiorly unfolded the special, heroic, and nostalgic feeling of life……Indeed, had George V known that a speech of such rhetorical power awaited him in 2009, he would have kept himself alive until this day. The Cadenza, like the irreversible beginning of the Empire’s sunset, was an epitaph worthy of a king.

Dagbladet, Oslo, 4th December 2009

„POWERFUL“ Daniel Hope – A splendid performer

The violinist Daniel Hope has a remarkably intense sound. Last night he played Elgar with the Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko conducting.

It turned into a meeting of minds, with Hope who, to put it mildly, extracted the most of what Elgar had put into the score and, in the process, highlighted some of the more problematic moments in the violin concerto too…….Hope was completely unaffected by this and merely unfolded the palette…..the entire journey from the opening movement to the work’s most beautiful section, unquestionably the slow second movement, we heard a Hope who played without compromise.

The slow and powerfully expressive parts of the concerto showed us a violinist with especially remarkable qualities. The varied and nuanced playing extracted the finest register in the music – luminously clear and without any reservation.

› Daniel Hope receives Grammy nomination

03.12.2009

Daniel Hope has yesterday received his fifth Grammy nomination, this time for his 2008 Deutsche Grammophon recording of Vivaldi Concertos, directing the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He is also joined by the award-winning mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter.

Daniel Hope will give his third performance at Berlin’s legendary Yellow Lounge, on Monday 16th November. Celebrating 15 years of the Yellow Lounge at the funky „Cookies“ night club on Friedrichstrasse, Hope will be joined by a group of phenomenal baroque musicians to perform excerpts from his AIR Album, which was recently released by Deutsche Grammophon and is enjoying its place in the Top 10 classical charts.

The Yellow Lounge, created by Universal and Deutsche Grammophon, presents the world’s finest artists in a club atmosphere, with dj’s and vj’s mixing classical music and visual art.

Daniel Hope will be on the road with rock-legend Sting on Friday, 6th November. Hope will interview Sting for Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, and the two musicians will then appear together on the German TV talkshow, „3 nach 9“, which celebrates its 35th anniversary as one of the most important on television in Germany.

The show will be aired live on 6th November at 22:00 CET. For more information please click here: Radio Bremen
Daniel Hope can also be heard as a guest artist on Sting’s new album, „If on a winter’s night……“

Read an interview with Hope about his connection to Sting, and what it was like to record with him: Interview

› Hope and Brandauer on stage in Vienna and Berlin

03.11.2009

Daniel Hope and his close friend, the renowned actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (‚Mephisto‘, ‚Out of Africa‘) perform an evening of music and text about the German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was imprisoned and murdered by the Nazis. There will be two performances:

› Daniel Hope in Dresden on 18th October to receive his 5th „ECHO Klassik“ Prize

15.10.2009

This Sunday, Daniel Hope will be awarded Germany’s most important record prize, the ECHO Klassik, for the fifth time. In a star-studded ceremony, televised by Germany’s ZDF channel, Hope will be at the Semperoper in Dresden on Octber 18th to receive his trophy.

He will also present a special prize to the ReSonanz & AkzepTanz project, for their outstanding work in bringing music to underprivileged children in Germany.

Other performers at the ceremony will include Elina Garanca, Plácido Domingo, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Sol Gabetta.

The Gala can be viewed Europe-wide on the ZDF TV Channel at 22:00 CET on Sunday, 18th October. 2 million viewers are expected to follow the show.

September 18th, 2009: Deutsche Grammophon releases Daniel Hope’s latest album, which promises to be his most exciting to date. Entitled „Air – a baroque journey“, it blends some of the most popular baroque music with lesser known composers whose music is stunning, magical and lively.

Classic FM says of AIR:„This is a beautiful recording, transporting you all over Europe with some of the most delicate playing and articulation. Hope’s masterful interpretation of the challenging violin parts of Matteis and Geminiani is a joy to listen to…“

To hear excerpts from AIR, or to watch the video, please click on the cover, or visit the CD page on danielhope.com

› Daniel Hope launches the Yellow Lounge in Tokyo, 18th September

10.09.2009

Daniel Hope will launch Universal’s Yellow Lounge in Japan, at a special event in Tokyo on Friday 18th September. Hope has performed a number of times for the Yellow Lounge in Berlin, which places classical music in a club atmosphere, blending DJs and VJs. He also launched the series in New York in 2008.

This is part of Hope’s ten day visit to Tokyo in which he will perform the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in televised concerts with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and a number of additional chamber music performances.

Following the success of Daniel Hope’s first book, a memoir entitled „Familienstücke„, which was on the German bestseller list, this new book is a personal guide to what happens in the concert hall – what to expect, what to wear, who’s who on the platform – written for people who have never experienced the joy of a live concert and who hesitate about participating in what might seem to the unitiated as an intellectual ritual requiring special knowledge and skills in order to be a member of the audience.

Daniel Hope recalls a number of anecdotal adventures, and traces the myths and clichés of the goings-on during a performance. He also examines the historical context of the so-called rules of the concert scene, eradicating a number of them in the process.

His Deutsche Grammophon recording of a kaleidoscope of Vivaldi’s music, in which Hope directs the Chamber Orchestra of Europe from the violin, picked up Germany’s most prestigious recording prize, to be awarded in a televised Gala ceremony at the Dresdner Semperoper, on October 18th.

Daniel Hope’s stunning new CD is being released this month across Europe. The US release is set for the beginning of 2009.

Hope’s long-awaited second Deutsche Grammophon album is an explosive kaleidoscope of Vivaldi’s magical music, including La Follia and Tempesta di Mare. It finds him reunited with the esteemed Chamber Orchestra of Europe for their third partnership in the recording studio. Hope has chosen a selection of the composer’s greatest violin concertos „as good as any of The Four Seasons“ (Hope). Presented by passionate, energetic performers this music is guaranteed to provide an uplifting and scintillating listening experience.

Vivacity and technical brilliance combine with Vivaldi’s timeless appeal for an energetic formula.

› New York Times and Herald Tribune feature major portraits of Daniel Hope

25.08.2009

The New York Times carried a full page portrait of Daniel Hope in its Arts and Leisure section, January 13th. The same interview ran a few days later in the International Herald Tribune. In a piece entitled, „How’s the family? Fascinating“, Matthew Gurewitsch interviews Hope about his latest book, his extraordinary family story and his musical journey to date.

› Violinist Daniel Hope celebrates Mendelssohn, a very special citizen of Hamburg

24.08.2009

Daniel Hope’s name is mentioned not just in the context of a violin virtuoso but increasingly as an initiator or even presenter of exceptional musical events.

Now Hope has a new theme which is also close to his heart: the music of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and the city of Hamburg. „I’m closely linked to Hamburg,“ the British violinist said just before a rehearsal for a Vivaldi programme which he is currently touring throughout Germany. „Many people are celebrating Mendelssohn this year. But I didn’t realise that he was born in 1809 in Hamburg. Most of my friends in the city didn’t know that either. So I decided spontaneously to do something.“

“Spontaneous“ and “do something“ are obviously two notions which match Hope’s style. Or as the New York Times wrote: „You never know what the brilliant violinist Daniel Hope will do next.“ But there are few artistic personalities who have either the network or more importantly the will to undertake such projects. His wealth of ideas will certainly be welcome at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, where Hope has agreed to act as Artistic Partner from summer 2010.

The world celebrates the bicentenary of the birth of Felix Mendelssohn on 3 February 2009. Hope began to plan the concert at the beginning of January. He started off by persuading the North German radio to broadcast the concert live, and to stream it via the web. Then he called Germany’s Actor of the Year 2008 Ulrich Matthes, Simone Young (music director of the Hamburg State Opera) and the Latvian pianist Lauma Skride, who lives in Hamburg. Amazingly all three were free, despite the short notice.

“All I had to do then was find a venue,“ Hope adds. “Last year I played a benefit concert in the Anglican church of St Thomas Becket in Hamburg. A beautiful church, a real jewel, which hardly anyone in Hamburg seems to know, despite the fact that the parish has existed since 1612. And by an extraordinary coincidence it’s almost diagonally opposite the site of the house in which Mendelssohn was born. As an Englishman I thought that particularly suitable: Mendelssohn loved England, the English love his music, and he had his greatest international triumphs in London.“

Hope asked the Hamburg events company, Highlife, with whom he had already organised the Berlin „Tu Was!“ event, to take charge. The result is a wonderful combination of words and music, which includes Mendelssohn’s D minor piano trio, works by Mendelssohn’s sister Fanny, and some of the Songs without Words. Mendelssohn’s own words will be delivered by Ulrich Matthes. And the opportunity of experiencing Australian-born Simone Young at the piano rather than on the conductor’s podium is not to be missed.

„As much as I love and revere Brahms, the residents of Hamburg need to know that Mendelssohn was also a scion of the city,“ says Hope. „And what better way to celebrate him than with great music and good friends.“

The former passenger departure terminal of Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport will be transformed for the first time into a concert hall and multi-genre arts venue on Sunday, November 9, when British violinist Daniel Hope, with the support of some of Germany’s most prominent political figures, comes together with fellow classical, rock, and jazz musicians and other special guests for “Tu Was!” – the German term meaning “Do something!” – a special event commemorating the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

“Tu was!”, a collage of music, words, pictures, and video installations, was conceived by Hope, who was inspired by distinguished British historian Sir Martin Gilbert, and his book Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction, a collection of personal reminiscences of the so-called “Reichskristallnacht” of late 1938. On the night of November 9-10, 1938, Jewish homes and businesses were attacked and half of the synagogues and prayer houses in Germany and Austria were badly damaged or totally destroyed in an orgy of violence propagated by the members of the Nazi SA and SS units. The following day, over 30,000 male Jews were deported to concentration camps, before the eyes of the international press, continuing the Nazi reign of terror that ended in the cataclysm of the “final solution” and the Holocaust.

Daniel Hope comments:

I came across Gilbert’s book recently, and while I knew about the “Reichskristallnacht”, it wasn’t until I read the book that the historical consequences of that night’s events became clear to me. The horrifyingly meticulous description of the violence against the Jews was utterly overwhelming. Since then the question as to what I would have done in such circumstances has begun to haunt me.

“Reichskristallnacht” took place 70 years ago and yet its consequences are still reflected in today’s society. Situations that require civil courage, individual or collective, continue to arise, whether it’s an individual attack on a defenseless fellow human being or the brutality of groups such as rightwing radical skinheads. Remembering the 1938 pogroms is a much-needed symbolic action in our society today. It echoes a call to all civilized people never again to ignore unacceptable violence by inaction.

For Hope, whose family was forced to flee Berlin and the Nazis, the event has urgent political importance as well as obvious personal significance. Throughout his career, Hope has advocated – both in live performance and with recordings – the music of the so-called “Entartete” composers – those composers deemed “degenerate” and subsequently destroyed by the Nazis.

Daniel Hope not only raised the money to make this project happen, he also persuaded leading political figures to back it. “Tu was!” now has the support of the Foreign Minister of the German Federal Republic, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as well as the Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, and his Cultural Minister, André Schmitz. The Jewish community of Berlin and their Chair, Ms. Lala Süsskind, have also pledged their help and support, along with many other individuals and companies.

The proceeds from the evening will be donated to the Freya von Moltke Foundation. Ms. von Moltke, now 97, was a participant in the Kreisau Circle, the anti-Nazi resistance group co-founded by her husband, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke. During World War II, her husband acted to subvert German human-rights abuses in territories occupied by Germany. With the Kreisau Circle, he discussed the future of a Germany founded on moral and democratic principles, such as could develop after Hitler, and was subsequently executed for treason by the Nazi government. Daniel Hope’s great aunt, Marlene Maertens, worked closely with Freya von Moltke after the war, to help refugees who had been forced to flee Germany.

2016

› Daniel Hope and New Century Chamber Orchestra Join in “Artistic Partnership”

17.10.2016

British Violinist Daniel Hope Is Named Artistic Partner of New Century Chamber Orchestra; Three-Season Appointment Launches in 2017/18 Season

It was announced yesterday that British violinist Daniel Hope has been named Artistic Partner of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco for a three-season appointment, to launch next fall. This position will see Hope – who already serves as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival – direct the orchestra from the violin in multiple performances each season, providing artistic continuity throughout the orchestra’s search for a permanent successor to Music Director Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, who steps down at the end of the present season.

Philip Wilder, Executive Director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra, said:

“We are delighted that Daniel Hope has agreed to partner with us during this time of transition. Daniel’s creativity and experience as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral leader and music advocate makes him uniquely qualified to guide the New Century Chamber Orchestra into its next chapter. I have known Daniel for more than a decade, and have witnessed his ability to create one-of-a-kind programming and experiences for audiences. With Daniel’s artistic guidance, our audiences are guaranteed a thrilling ride over the next three years.”

Founded in 1992 by cellist Miriam Perkoff and violist Wieslaw Pogorzelski, the New Century Chamber Orchestra is one of only a handful of conductorless ensembles in the world. A 19-member string ensemble, it comprises musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area and across the U.S. and Europe, who make all musical decisions collaboratively. Hope made his debut with the orchestra this past February as Guest Concertmaster in a special centennial tribute to his late mentor, Yehudi Menuhin. This impressed the San Francisco Chronicle with its “winning spirit of camaraderie and collaboration,” and prompted the San Jose Mercury News to observe: “If the concert represented a high-water mark for the orchestra, what it suggested for the future was downright tantalizing. Hope merged brilliantly with the NCCO musicians — and infused each of the evening’s performances with consummate flair.”

As the New York Times put it, Daniel Hope’s “thriving solo career” is “built on inventive programming and a probing interpretive style.” He has appeared as soloist with the Boston and Chicago Symphonies and the foremost orchestras of Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Moscow and Vienna. In September 2016 he became Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, succeeding Sir Roger Norrington. Celebrated for his musical versatility as well as his dedication to humanitarian causes, he was recognized last year with the prestigious European Cultural Prize for Music, whose previous laureates include Daniel Barenboim, Plácido Domingo and the Berlin Philharmonic. As an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2007, he has received six ECHO Klassik Awards and five Grammy nominations. As well as publishing four bestselling books in Germany, he contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal, writes scripts for collaborative performances with actors Klaus Maria Brandauer and Mia Farrow, and regularly produces radio and television shows around the world.

On Tuesday September 27th 2016, Daniel Hope began his new role as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZKO).
The opening concert of the new season, which took place at the Tonhalle in Zurich, is an example of the kind of programming which Daniel will be bringing to the orchestra.
The concert began with Mendelssohn’s Octet in the original chamber version; followed by works for Violin and Orchestra by Bach and Weinberg, and concluding with Beethoven’s Symphony No 2.

Following the Season Opening, Daniel and the ZKO travelled to Asia to perform in South Korea (Seoul Arts Center, Pusan Concert Hall, Tongyeong International Concert Hall) and China (Oriental Arts Center, Shanghai).

We hope to welcome you to a future performance by Daniel Hope, somewhere in the world!

› You can hear Daniel’s WDR3 Radio Show Every Sunday

30.09.2016

Every Sunday, from January to December, you can listen to Daniel’s own radio show for the German broadcaster, WDR3. The programme is aired from 13:00-15:00 CET and can be heard outside of Germany live on the net at www.wdr3.de

2015

› DANIEL HOPE AWARDED THE 2015 EUROPEAN CULTURAL PRIZE FOR MUSIC

20.07.2015

A few days ago, Daniel Hope’s performance in the Dresden Frauenkirche was received with standing ovations. He will be returning to Dresden on 2nd October to receive the 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music.

“Daniel Hope is a great artist, whose serious and refreshing approach to classical music creates generations of new listeners”, according to the President of the European Cultural Foundation, Tilo Braune. “He builds bridges between different musical worlds and thus stands for tolerance and openness.” The New York Times wrote of him: „You never know what the brilliant British violinist Daniel Hope, acclaimed for his ventures into contemporary music, will do next.“
An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist, Daniel Hope has toured the world as soloist for 25 years, receiving many awards including six ECHO Klassik Prizes, the Diapason d’Or of the Year and the Edison Music Award. He has performed with musicians including Yehudi Menuhin and Kurt Masur, he is the Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival, and even a bestselling author. The 2016/17 season will see him succeed Sir Roger Norrington as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.

This summer Daniel Hope is touring the festivals of Aspen, Bristol Proms, Edinburgh, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Merano, Pollença, Ravenna, Rheingau, Schleswig-Holstein and Tokyo with partners including Paavo Järvi, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Berlin Baroque Soloists, the Ebène Quartet, Nicholas Angelich, Klaus Maria Brandauer and many more.

Hope says: “I am honoured to receive the 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music. Our cultural heritage in Europe is unique and I see it as the responsibility of every artist to protect, to celebrate and to share this heritage. I’m particularly delighted to be receiving this award in the Dresden Frauenkirche – an historical landmark in which I have been privileged to make music on several occasions, and a place which represents not only the preservation of culture but symbolises the understanding of different cultures in a unique way.”

The European Cultural Prize this October celebrates the 25th anniversary of German Reunification. Actor Manfred Krug will be honoured for his life’s work, tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Angela Gheorghiu are awarded the European Soloist Prizes. Conductor Kristjan Järvi joins forces with the Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic to receive the European Young Artists Prize.

Presenting the awards will be the former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, the Music Director of the Berlin State Opera Daniel Barenboim, the film producer Regina Ziegler, actor Charles Brauer and the director of the Vienna State Opera, Dominique Meyer.

› Daniel returns to Bristol Proms, July 27

15.07.2015

On July 27th, Daniel curates a very special performance at the Bristol Proms July 27 for „Tchaikovsky vs. Brahms“
an evening of music and spoken word at the Bristol Old Vic, which presents the story of the fierce rivalry between these two iconic 19th-century composers. Daniel is joined by a group of incredible chamber musicians from around the world and British actor Zubin Varla. Details here: http://eepurl.com/bsVWpD

› Daniel Hope Is Named Music Director of Zurich Chamber Orchestra

28.04.2015

In a press conference in Zurich today, it was announced that celebrated violinist Daniel Hope has been named Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, succeeding Sir Roger Norrington. Hope will start preparing for the new post this year, and looks forward to taking it up officially in 2016. Michael Bühler, Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, described the appointment as heralding a new era in the chamber ensemble’s history, saying: “We want to expand our presence on the international music stage. Daniel Hope is a charismatic star violinist, who is also a well known producer, best-selling author and TV presenter, and is at home practically anywhere in the world. This communicative artist has a particularly clear understanding of how to build bridges between genres and generations.”

Daniel continues his regular contribution to the Wall Street Journal with an article about the European composers who escaped the Nazis and settled in Hollywood, helping to create „The Hollywood Sound“.

2014

› Daniel receives the EDISON Music Award in Utrecht, Holland

29.11.2014

Tonight in a ceremony recorded for television in Utrecht, Holland, Daniel was awarded the „EDISON KLASSIEK“ Prize 2014. The Edison Music Award is an annual Dutch music prize, awarded for outstanding achievement in music. It is one of the oldest music awards in the world. Dutch fans can view Daniel’s performance with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest and Markus Stenz on Sunday, 30th November at 13:00 CET on the NPO 2 TV Channel. Former Edison Award winners include Miles Davis, Marlene Dietrich and Eric Clapton. Further info here: http://www.edisons.nl/klassiek/nieuws/daniel-hope-krijgt-speciale-edison-0

› DANIEL HOPE WINS THE 2014 EDISON AWARD, SPECIAL PRIZE

05.11.2014

DANIEL HOPE WINS THE 2014 EDISON AWARD, SPECIAL PRIZE: For immediate release: „The Edison Foundation in Holland has awarded British violinist Daniel Hope a „Special Edison“ Prize. This prize honors musicians who have achieved great success in the world of classical music but also salutes their groundbreaking approach. The winners dare to be innovative, to experiment and to work hard to reach new audiences at an exceptional level.The Edison Ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 29th at Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht. Daniel Hope will attend and perform works from his latest Deutsche Grammophon album „Escape to Paradise“ with the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest under Markus Stenz. The concert will be recorded for Dutch television and broadcast the next day, November 30, by NPO2.“

There are times in South Africa when mayhem, not music, is in the air. I happen to be here just as the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius winds up. At the same time we are recreating in music and words the life of a very different South African.

Nat Nakasa was a writer who ruled out hatred and self-pity but revelled in picking out the absurdities sewn into the fabric of Apartheid. The system sent its masters mad, he noted, and he had the temerity to sympathize. His refusal to play the race card places him in the Mandela camp, far ahead of his time and it is little wonder that he baffled his friends and angered his enemies.

In the early 1960s Nakasa landed a job on Drum magazine, where he arrived on his first day carrying a tennis racket and a typewriter, and happily admitted he couldn’t operate either. Drum was already legendary; its young black journalists celebrated style, energy, laughter – all in short supply in 1960s South Africa. When Nakasa began writing incisive, sardonic essays on the cruel absurdities of life under Apartheid, the security police marked him down as a dangerous subversive. They were wrong, but almost everyone was wrong about Nakasa.

When Carnegie Hall invited me – as a South African-born violinist – to ‚create something big‘ this October for their UBUNTU Festival, which also marks 20 years of democracy in South Africa, I asked my father, Christopher Hope, one of the country’s most important writers, to come up with a project on which we could work together. ‚Let’s bring Nakasa back to life on stage‘, he said and subsequently wrote the script of A Distant Drum.

A Distant Drum is a mix of music and poetry, and it re-casts the life of Nat Nakasa as a fairy tale – Cinderella gone sadly awry. Like many in Sophiatown, that hive of young, black artists, Nakasa dreamt of America, which the music and movies of the black Jo’burg townships pictured as paradise. With the encouragement of a fairy godfather, Jack Thompson, head of the Farfield Foundation, Nat won a Nieman Scholarship to Harvard. But he was denied a passport, a sanction often applied by the Apartheid regime. Instead Nakasa took an exit permit, a one-way escape route. What Nat did not know was that Jack Thompson’s charitable Foundation was a CIA front which was funding magazines, writers, composers and painters around the world who, it was felt, might prove themselves to be useful assets in the Cold War.

At Harvard, Nakasa again found himself out of place. He travelled down south and wrote about the civil rights marches. He listened to Martin Luther King, Jr. He was startled when his liberal Harvard friends pitied black South Africans, but seemed blissfully unaware of how things were for black Americans in their own segregated South.

When the authorities in the US declined to renew his one-year visa, Nat became, in his words, ‘a native of nowhere’. There were rumours of drink and depression and one morning, on July 14, 1965, Nathaniel Ndazana Nakasa jumped or fell from the window of Thompson’s New York apartment. He was 28. Even in death, the South African government refused to allow him to return and he was buried in upstate New York.

The music in our production is rather like Nat Nakasa himself, a wanderer between different worlds, Africa and the USA, Johannesburg and Manhattan. What our composer, Ralf Schmid, has done, is to create a musical language that reaches across cultural boundaries, just as Nakasa moved between different worlds. Music from Africa, Europe and America is parodied, or imitated, much as Nakasa subverted and parodied the iron rules of the regime he detested. The ensemble is made up of piano/keyboards, violin, cello, piano, bass, drums, along with a barrage of live electronics that mimic a typewriter, tennis ball, heartbeat and even pre-recorded South African choirs. This creates an extraordinary soundscape, allowing the musicians, Ralf Schmid, Jason Marsalis, Vincent Ségal, Michael Olatuja and me the freedom to improvise. The rhymes and rhythms of the piece reflect the bizarre world of Apartheid.

A Distant Drum is a dark comedy, like so much of South African life. You are never quite sure whether to laugh or cry, so you do a bit of both. A few months ago, Nakasa was finally brought home and reburied in South Africa. But then, in so many ways, I think he never really left. And to play Nat’s life at Carnegie Hall, in New York, where Nakasa lived and lay buried for so many years, seems fitting – and he would have loved the irony.

› CD Sales in Germany – Daniel Hope – No 1 and No 15

26.09.2014

„Escape to Paradise“ is at No 1 in this month’s German classical charts. A big thank you to everyone for your support! This album means a great deal to Daniel – it’s been a long time in the making and the journey has only just begun.Klassik Bestseller

From Korngold to Sting via “Cinema Paradiso”: in this album Daniel Hope shines a new light on Hollywood scores as he takes a widescreen musical journey, seeking out the echoes of exiled European composers.

The British Press is unanimous about Daniel’s performance of Gabriel Prokofiev’s new Violin Concerto ‚1914‘, premièred at the BBC Proms earlier this week with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic under conductor Sascha Goetzel.

THE TIMES (4 Stars): „…the sheer dislocating bitterness of the writing, both for Daniel Hope, the superb soloist, and for the orchestra…it’s the best thing Gabriel Prokofiev has written“.

THE INDEPENDENT (4 Stars): „the programme for this work is indeed specific, including savagery, shell-shock, and sardonic imperial marches: the rationale is pure Shostakovich, though more literal. Daniel Hope, the instigator of this work, played its stratospherically high solo part with flawless accuracy.“

THE GUARDIAN (4 Stars): „One work, however, stood apart. Daniel Hope was the soloist in the world premiere of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 1 „1914“ – an ambitious depiction of Europe’s descent into war. It contained some startling effects. The BIPO sounded good in it, and Hope impressed by playing atrociously difficult music from memory.“

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (4 Stars) calls the whole concert „Superbly rich“, writing of the Prokofiev, that „it created an extraordinary atmosphere, at once sombre, tender and surreal“.

„The DVD is superbly produced. The documentary portion, connecting interviews, music and the visit to the Ghetto and the small fortress is both tasteful and moving. The singing by Anne Sofie von Otter, her reading and the connection to her family history are more than poignant. The same applies to the words of Daniel Hope; both his playing and is family history are exceptional. The musical portion of the DVD, the works by those composers created in the Ghetto and elsewhere, are deeply sensitive, tasteful and help preserve the music of this time. Best regards and thanks“
Thelma Cohen, Beit Theresienstadt – Givat Haim Ihud, Israel (www.bterezin.org.il)

Daniel’s new film about the Theresienstadt concentration camp, „Refuge in Music“ will be broadcast on January 27th at 23:10 CET by Bayerische Rundfunk TV. It features Alice Herz-Sommer, Coco Schumann, Anne Sofie von Otter and Christian Gerhaher. More infos here:

From Monday 16th December, Daniel Hope will be ARTIST OF THE WEEK on BBC Radio 3’s ‚Essential Classics‘. All week long, between 9am and noon, the BBC will be airing an extensive selection of Daniel’s recordings, including the concerti of Bruch, Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi and Mendelssohn! Tune in at 10am GMT or you can stream the broadcasts and listen again here: LINK

› Daniel Hope to perform at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate this Sunday, November 10 at 18:00 CET

04.11.2013

On November 10, Daniel Hope will perform at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in a ceremony honoring the victims of the so-called “Kristallnacht.” Also known as the Night of Broken Glass, the massacre of November 9-10th, 1938, alerted the world to the barbarism of the Nazis. This year’s ceremony, which marks the 75th anniversary of “Kristallnacht,” invites everyone, especially Berlin’s schoolchildren and students, to come together at the Brandenburg Gate in a memorial that signals the value of diversity in today’s Germany and promotes vigilance against all forms of intolerance, racism, anti-Semitism, and violence. Read the press release here:
LINK: 21cmediagroup
LINK: Berlin

Throughout October Deutsche Grammophon will be releasing Daniel Hope’s new DVD „Refuge in Music“ around the world. The film tells the story of two extraordinary musicians, Alice Herz-Sommer (109) and Coco Schumann (89) who survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp and whose performances brought comfort and hope to so many. All artists in this film appeared without a fee, and all artist royalties will be donated to charity.

2nd September, 22:25h (CET) on 3SAT: Daniel will be the focus of a TV documentary, to be broadcast on the 3SAT tv channel on September 2. „Berg und Geist“ recalls the story of his childhood and his relationship to the town of Gstaad, Switzerland. LINK

› The Wall Street Journal: What’s Still Timeless About ‚Seasons‘ by Daniel Hope

24.08.2013

By DANIEL HOPE – I first experienced Vivaldi as a toddler at Yehudi Menuhin’s festival in Gstaad, Switzerland, in 1975. One day I heard what I thought was birdsong coming from the stage. It was the opening solo of „La Primavera“ from the „Four Seasons.“ It had such an electrifying effect that I still call it my „Vivaldi Spring.“ How was it possible to conjure up so vivid, so natural a sound, with just a violin?

Opinions of Vivaldi divide between those who adore and those who despise him. Ask the average person if he recognizes a classical melody, however poorly hummed, and he will probably nod enthusiastically at the second theme of „Spring“ from the „Four Seasons.“ On the other hand, Igor Stravinsky summed up the case for the other side when he quipped, „Vivaldi wrote one concerto, 400 times.“

Yes, Vivaldi was incredibly prolific. Nonetheless, his most famous work remains his „Four Seasons.“ To understand this masterpiece, it helps to shed a little light on the rise and fall of one of the greatest violinists of the 18th century. Born in Venice in 1678 into a desperately poor family, Vivaldi chose the priesthood early on—it offered good chances of advancement. But his plans were scuppered when his severe asthma meant that he was unable to conduct long masses and because, gossip has it, he would nip out for a glass of something during the sermon.

What changed his life forever was an unusual job offer. In 1703 a Venetian orphanage, the Ospedale della Pietà, which provided musical training to the illegitimate and abandoned young daughters of wealthy noblemen, asked Vivaldi to direct its orchestra. Vivaldi understood immediately that he had a unique ensemble at his disposal. Many of his greatest works were written for these young ladies to perform. Very soon, all Europe was enthralled.

He remained there for 12 years and, after an itinerant period working in Vicenza and Mantua, returned to Venice in 1723. The 1720s were a difficult time. The bursting of the „South Sea Bubble“ triggered a recession that spread across Europe. Vivaldi needed an income. So in 1723 he set about writing a series of works he boldly titled „Il Cimento dell‘ Armonia e dell’invenzione“ („The trial of harmony and invention“), Opus 8. It consists of 12 concerti, seven of which—“Spring,“ „Summer,“ „Autumn“ and „Winter“ (which make up the „Four Seasons“), „Pleasure,“ „The Hunt“ and „Storm at Sea“—paint astonishingly vivid, vibrant scenes. In „Storm at Sea,“ Vivaldi reached a new level of virtuosity, pushing technical mastery to the limit as the violinist’s fingers leap and shriek across the fingerboard, recalling troubled waters.

In the score, each of the four seasons are prefaced by four sonnets, possibly Vivaldi’s own, that establish each concerto as a musical image of that season. At the top of every movement, Vivaldi gives us a written description of what we are about to hear. These range from „the blazing sun’s relentless heat, men and flocks are sweltering“ („Summer“) to peasant celebrations („Autumn“) in which „the cup of Bacchus flows freely, and many find their relief in deep slumber.“ Images of warmth and wine are wonderfully intertwined. When the faithful hound „barks“ in the slow movement of „Spring,“ we experience it just as clearly as the patter of raindrops on the roof in the largo of „Winter.“ No composer of the time got music to sing, speak and depict quite like this.

Vivaldi’s fame spread. He received commissions from King Louis XV of France and Rome’s Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni. When Prince Johann Ernst returned to his court at Weimar from an Italian tour, he brought with him a selection of Vivaldi’s earlier, 12-concerto „L’Estro Armonico“ („Harmonic Inspiration“) and presented it to the young organist Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach was so taken with the music that he rearranged several of the concertos for different instrumentation. A legend was born. Johann Friedrich Armand von Uffenbach exclaimed: „Vivaldi played a solo accompaniment—splendid—to which he appended a cadenza which really frightened me, for such playing has never been nor can be: he brought his fingers up to only a straw’s distance from the bridge, leaving no room for the bow—and that on all four strings with imitations and incredible speed.“

But Vivaldi’s fame was eventually to become his greatest enemy. People said that „Il Prete rosso“ („the red priest,“ due to his flowing red locks) was surely in league with the devil—seducing those poor defenseless orphans, whose corsets he untied with a mere flick of his bow. The pope threatened him with excommunication. Suddenly, he was out of fashion. Once again he was broke. In May 1740, he headed to Vienna, where Emperor Charles VI had once offered him a position. He died there a year later, and was buried in a pauper’s grave.

Centuries passed. Dust gathered on the red priest’s music. A revival of sorts began when scholars in Dresden began to uncover Vivaldi manuscripts in the 1920s. But what really redeemed him was the record industry. Alfredo Campoli released a live recording of the „Four Seasons“ in 1939. But, at least indirectly, the greatest revival of the „Seasons“ occurred thanks to Hollywood. Louis Kaufman, an American violinist and concertmaster for more than 400 movie soundtracks, including „Gone With the Wind“ and „Cleopatra,“ recorded the „Four Seasons“ for the Concert Hall Society. It won the 1950 Grand Prix du Disque.

Today the „Four Seasons,“ with more than 1,000 available recordings, are not just rediscovered—they are being reimagined. Astor Piazzolla, Uri Caine, Philip Glass and others have all created their own versions. In Spring 2012, I received an enigmatic call from the British composer Max Richter, who said he wanted to „recompose“ the „Four Seasons“ for me. His problem, he explained, was not with the music, but how we have treated it. We are subjected to it in supermarkets, elevators or when a caller puts you on hold. Like many of us, he was deeply fond of the „Seasons“ but felt a degree of irritation at the music’s ubiquity. He told me that because Vivaldi’s music is made up of regular patterns, it has affinities with the seriality of contemporary postminimalism, one style in which he composes. Therefore, he said, the moment seemed ideal to reimagine a new way of hearing it.

I had always shied away from recording Vivaldi’s original. There are simply too many other versions already out there. But Mr. Richter’s reworking meant listening again to what is constantly new in a piece we think we are hearing when, really, we just blank it out. The album, „Recomposed By Max Richter: Four Seasons,“ was released late last year. With his old warhorse refitted for the 21st century, the inimitable red priest rides again.

article appeared August 23, 2013, on page C13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal

› See Daniel’s filmed performance for NPR

21.08.2013

Daniel was recently in New York to film a performance at the American Museum of Natural History for NPR, with the jazz bassist Ben Allison. You can see them here performing two pieces from „Spheres“: Westhoff’s ‚Imitazione delle Campane‘ and Max Richter’s ‚Berlin by Overnight‘, as well as a special arrangement of Bach’s Air. Watch it here: LINK

We are delighted to announce that the Deutsche Grammophon album, „Vivaldi Recomposed“ (Max Richter and Daniel Hope) has been awarded the 2013 ECHO KLASSIK prize in the category ‚Klassik ohne Grenzen‘ (‚Classical Music without Boundaries‘). This will be Daniel’s 6th ECHO trophy. The televised awards ceremony will take place on October 6th at the Konzerthaus Berlin. Other winners this year include Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Martha Argerich, Joyce DiDonato, Kristian Bezuidenhout and Ian Bostridge. For the full winners list and info click here.

› No 1 Classical album in the UK!

05.08.2013

Daniel Hope’s CD „Spheres“ is the No 1 Classical album in the UK! LINK

CD „Vivaldi Recomposed“ is at position 7 and in addition Daniel Hope is featured on Einaudi’s album which is No2.

So 3 times in the top 10 or twice in the top 2 – what sounds better?

› Stunning review in The Guardian for Daniel’s performance of the Korngold Violin Concerto

06.05.2013

Rian Evans writes of Daniel’s recent performance of the Korngold Concerto: „Hope’s tone was darkly resonant, his playing as virtuosic as that of Jascha Heifitz, who premiered the work. The depth he invested in the music was striking, demanding that it be treated seriously as absolute music, albeit passionately romantic, and taking away the schmaltzy air that sometimes surrounds it. Hope’s integrity in these matters puts him in a league of his own.“ Read the full review here:http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/may/06/bbcnow-sondergard-review

› SPHERES in Concert – Berlin

04.03.2013

Daniel Hope will perform the „SPHERES“ programme on 30th April 2013 in Berlin

› 10th anniversary as Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival

01.03.2013

From March 20-April 6, Daniel celebrates his 10th anniversary as Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival. The SMF is one of the most diverse and cutting edge music festivals in the world. 17 Days, 100 Concerts, All Music Genres. Check out the season here.

› Daniel Hope Releases the Astronomy-Inspired DG Album “Spheres” and Celebrates 10 Years of Co-Leading the Savannah Music Festival

11.02.2013

“An artist of both dazzle and depth.”— New Yorker

Violinist Daniel Hope – whose first half of the season ranged characteristically far and wide on record and on stage – now looks forward to a red-letter spring. On March 12, he releases his second Deutsche Grammophon album of the season: the astronomy-inspired Spheres, which evokes “musica universalis” with pieces ranging from the Baroque to the 21st century. From March 21 to April 5, Hope celebrates his 10th anniversaryas Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival with his annual residency, which sees him collaborate with such great peers as Anne Sofie von Otter, David Finckel and Jaime Laredo. Prior to the album release and the residency, Hope performs Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 – a work that appeared on his lauded 2011 DG album The Romantic Violinist – with the Indianapolis Symphony under Krzysztof Urbanski (Feb 14-16). Gramophone recently chose Hope’s recording of the ever-popular Bruch concerto as the one to have in its „Gramophone Guide to the Essentials.“

Spheres

Hope’s Spheresexplores the idea, initiated by Pythagoras, that planetary movement creates its own kind of music – “musica universalis.” This idea has fascinated philosophers, musicians and mathematicians for centuries. Hope’s album offers evocative music in a myriad styles, from fresh arrangements of Baroque works (by J.S. Bach and J.P. Westhoff) and late-Romantic pieces (Fauré) to works of 20th-century minimalism (classics by Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman) and the 21st-century East (Lera Auerbach, Elena Kats-Chernin). There are such contemporary gems as Karsten Gundermann’s “Nachspiel” from his Faust, as well as new works written for Hope by up-and-comers Alex Baranowski (who composed the melody-rich Musica Universalis), Gabriel Prokofiev (grandson of Sergey, who penned the title work), Ludovico Einaudi and Aleksey Igudesman. On the CD, Hope also teams up again with composer Max Richter, with whom he collaborated on the recent critically and commercially successful DG release Vivaldi Recomposed, named iTunes Best Contemporary Classical Album for the U.S. for 2012.

Hope recorded Spheres, which features five world premiere recordings, in the old East German broadcasting hall in Berlin alongside the Rundfunkchor Berlin, pianist Jacques Ammon, and the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin under Simon Halsey.

There is a scene-setting trailer for Spheres available online here, as well as a complete track list here. In the trailer, Hope says: “There is every kind of emotion on this album, from the most serene and beautiful to upbeat tempos and jazzy, lively things. The idea is: where can music transport you, to what kind of a plane? That, for me, is very exciting.”

Watch Hope talk about the new album with the BBC here: http://bbc.in/155WR4m

Savannah Music Festival: 10 Years

The Savannah Music Festival, run by Rob Gibson, founding director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, commissions and stages original, one-time only productions, collaborations and premieres over a three-week period every spring. Discussing the cross-genre ethos of the Savannah Music Festival last year with the Wall Street Journal, Hope said: “Savannah’s hallmark is its cultural diversity, and on any given day our programs range from, say, the Baroque to Brahms to Edgar Meyer, from Fauré to Portuguese fado, from Béla Fleck to Chris Thile. It’s a celebration of music in all its many forms.” With this spring’s festival, taking place from March 21 to April 5, Hope celebrates his 10th anniversary as its Associate Artistic Director. Hope says: “I look forward to my time in Savannah each year. It is a unique, exciting opportunity to explore music and art with good friends, onstage and off.”

On March 21 in Savannah, it’s Daniel Hope & Friends with mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, performing Brahms and Beethoven; on March 22, Hope, von Otter and company perform Dvorák, Loeffler, Ives and Copland. Hope teams with cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han for Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio on March 27. Hope & Friends play quintets by Schubert, Brahms and a world premiere by Alexandra Du Bois on March 30, then it’s the Mendelssohn Octet and more with Hope joining the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Miami String Quartet on April 1. On April 2, Hope & Friends gather again, this time to play string ensemble works by Mozart, Dvorák and Richard Strauss, and give the world premiere of The Sun was Chasing Venus, a “viola quintet” written by British composer Charlotte Bray. Hope closes out his Savanah season on April 5 in a chamber concert featuring works by Schubert and Beethoven.

Vivaldi Recomposed on NPR Music

In December, Daniel Hope joined composer Max Richter for two performances of Vivaldi Recomposed, Richter’s “bewitchingly brilliant” (Wall Street Journal) reimagining of Vivaldi’s iconic Four Seasons, at the New York’s downtown venue Le Poisson Rouge. The New York Times praised Hope for “demonstrating his usual combination of virtuosity and insight” and NPR Music was on hand to record the concert for its online video series “Field Recordings.”

Wednesday, November 14, 2012: from the beginning of the current season at Lucerne’s KKL concert and conference centre, Daniel Hope becomes Principal Guest Artist of the Festival Strings Lucerne. This arrangement will initially cover the next two years, until the end of the 2013/2014 season. The position has been specifically created for Daniel Hope.

As in the orchestra’s earliest days, there will now be dual command exercised by the leader, as Artistic Director, and a violin soloist in a special relationship with the Ensemble; both musicians will define the Ensemble’s artistic course in the future and launch new initiatives.

This reflects a general artistic reorientation of the Ensemble at the highest level, following the departure of conductor Achim Fiedler in Summer 2012. Achim Fiedler exercised this function for 14 years, as direct successor to Rudolf Baumgartner, who had founded the exquisite string chamber orchestra in 1956, together with the legendary violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan.

The new Artistic Director will be the Australian-Swiss violinist Daniel Dodds, who joined the ensemble in 2000. Also a longstanding member of Claudio Abbado’s renowned Lucerne Festival Orchestra, he recently made his debut as soloist with the highly acclaimed album Time Transcending on Oehms Classics. He also enjoys guest-leader status with groups such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Vladimir Ashkenazy) and the Australian World Orchestra (Zubin Mehta).

British violinist, Daniel Hope, an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon since 2007, is currently storming the charts with Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed, both in Germany and in the USA. In more than 20 recordings he has earned worldwide acclaim such as the French Diapason d’Or, the Classical Brit Award, the German Record Prize, Belgium’s Prix Caecilia, five ECHO Klassik prizes and numerous Grammy nominations. Hope has performed with all the world’s major orchestras at Festivals including Salzburg, the BBC Proms, Lucerne, Hollywood Bowl, Verbier, Ravinia and Tanglewood.

The team will be completed by musician and arts manager Hans-Christoph Mauruschat as Managing Director.

The first concerts featuring Daniel Hope in his new function will take place on January 18 2013 in Olten (Switzerland), on January 19 at the KKL in Lucerne and on January 26 at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main.

› In search of my grandfather: a leading violinist goes looking for a hero

13.11.2012

The elderly lady who approached the table where I was signing Cds after the concert had that beady look in her eye. ‘Ah, Misstah Hawp’, she said in English, with a thick, German accent, ‘I hope you are vell, yes?’ As her hysterical laughter machine-gunned its way through the lobby, I found myself contemplating what would happen if I had a penny for every time someone has attempted to make a joke out of my surname (or really thinks I’ve not heard it before). The true origin of my name, however, has a rather more unusual story attached.

Nomen est Omen

By Daniel Hope, 12 November 2012

When I wrote my first book a few years ago, a German memoir entitled ‘Familienstücke’ (or ‘Family Pieces’), I traced the history of my family back to the 16th century. Whilst conducting my research, one thing became clear to me. Within our family, conflict has often been the order of the day.

On my mother’s side, there were German Jews who fled Berlin in the 1930s. Both great-grandfathers were highly decorated for their service in the German Army during World War I, but Hitler’s madness at Nuremberg overruled any feelings of almost blind patriotism they struggled to retain. The family villa in Berlin was personally confiscated by Von Ribbentropp and turned into one of the centres for Nazi code-breaking, a sort of German Bletchley Park. Those who survived got as far away as they could: either to the United States or South Africa.

On my father’s side there were Irish Catholics. My father’s grandfather had run away from Ireland as a teenager in the late 19th century. Like many young Irishmen of his day, he was a contradiction: an Irish nationalist, yet loyal to the British Empire abroad. He sailed third class to South Africa but was proud of the fact that Robert Baden-Powell was aboard the same vessel, no doubt travelling higher up.

In 1899 the Boers occupied the British garrisons at Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. During the siege of Mafeking, a Cadet Corps of 11-16 year old boys stood guard, carried messages, assisted in hospitals, and freed up soldiers and grown men, enabling them to fight. Baden-Powell defended Mafeking with a thousand men and boys against a Boer army of nine thousand. One of those boys was my great-grandfather, Daniel McKenna, who gave me my first name.

My father, the novelist Christopher Hope, was born in South Africa in 1944. His father, Dennis Tully, had volunteered to join the Allied war effort as a fighter pilot. He was transfered to Cairo, where Rommel’s army was fast approaching the city. It was my great aunt who pleaded with Dennis not to remain a fighter pilot, but instead to switch to bombers. She had heard that life expectancy amongst bombers was marginally higher. Dennis complied and underwent the necessary training in Cairo.

When my father was born, he was severely ill. He had lost a lot of blood and needed a transfusion. Dennis was given compassionate leave, as he had the same rare blood type. He flew home to Johannesburg where he spent three days in the hospital at my father’s bedside. The transfusions were successful, but as Dennis left South Africa again he confided in my great aunt: ‘God has saved my son’s life. He will take mine.’ Dennis flew north on a Sunday. The following Saturday he was dead. His plane crashed, he and his crew were killed instantly. The exact cause was never determined, but it is well known that some types of bomber were highly erratic and stalled in mid-air for no reason.

And so Dennis Tully became a legendary figure of the family. First of all for my father, growing up as a child and wondering what his father must have been like. On the piano in our house in London, when I was growing up, there stood the only photo of Dennis Tully we had. A fine-looking young man in a crisp lieutenant’s uniform, gazing out at me with a reassuring smile as I did my daily violin practice – my South African grandfather who loved to sing, and whom his friends affectionately called ‘Bing’.

Gathering research for my book, I had visited my father at his home in the Languedoc, and we spoke in depth about Dennis Tully. I asked him whether he knew if there was a grave. He didn’t know – neither the day on which his father died nor where such a grave might be, as it was something his mother never shared with him. That night we sat down at the computer. Within a few minutes I found myself on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. As Dennis had been a member of the South African Air Force, I thought this might be a good place to start. I entered his name and the year of his death, which I assumed to be 1944, the year of my father’s birth. We could hardly believe our eyes as the search engine came up with the following lines:

“Dennis Hubert Tully, Lieutenant, son of William and Mary Tully; husband of Kathleen Tully, of Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa. Remembered with honour.”

One click later and we were looking at a digital image of my grandfather’s grave. It is located in a British military cemetery in the town of Ramla, formerly Palestine, and now Israel. Up to this moment, the family had always said when refering to Dennis was that he must be ‘somewhere in Africa’. But that of all places he was laid to rest in Israel was a development I found both unusual and very moving. There was one more surprise. The tombstone recorded that Dennis had died on August 12, 1944. He was 25. I glanced at my watch – it was August 12, 2004. Sixty years to the day. My father and I sat there for a long time in silence, trying to comprehend it all.

From that moment I wanted to find a way to visit Dennis with my father. This summer the opportunity finally presented itself. As we arrived at Ben Gurion airport, my father was asked the purpose of his visit. He told the passport officer he was here to see his father, in Ramalah. “I think you mean Ramla”, the stone-faced immigration officer corrected him. “You better get the name right!” she barked. When we arrived at the cemetery, situated in a sprawling, industrial town, we found a haven of perfectly-kept green grass and some five thousand gravestones. It was blisteringly hot as we moved silently through the ranks of so many young men.

As my father pointed out to me, Ramleh, now Ramla, War Cemetery is an extraordinary mix of the fallen: Egyptians, Germans, Jews, Moslems, Indians, Turks, Palestine policemen, New Zealanders, Australians, Poles and South Africans all lie together. It dates from the First World War; most of the graves date from the Second World War; but here too are soldiers killed almost as soon as it was over, when Israeli fighters attacked British targets in their struggle to set up the state of Israel. By a bizarre coincidence, it is also the place where Adolf Eichmannn was hanged in 1962.

We found Dennis quickly. He lies on the aisle, buried next to his squadron. We spent a long time there in the oppressive heat. Above all I wanted to give my father the chance to come to terms with his first meeting with his own father. He did what perhaps any writer would do: sitting on the grass under a tree he pulled out a pen and notebook and began writing.

Later on that evening, as we recalled the emotional events of the day, my father remarked how important a name can end up being. Family names are given, not chosen. Sometimes the family name you carry – as was the case with my grandparents from Germany – may mark you for life; or even cost you your life.

I realized that a name is no joking matter. My grandmother remarried after the war, a South African called Hope. Had Dennis survived, my father’s surname, and mine, would be Tully. Small change but a world of difference. I wonder what the autograph hunters at my concerts would have made of that?

Daniel has completed the filming for his new documentary about the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Daniel’s interview with the 108 year old pianist survivor, Alice Herz-Sommer, will be part of it, as will performances by Anne Sofie von Otter, Christian Gerhaher, Bengt Forsberg and Bebe Risenfors, also featuring a live concert from March 2012 in Munich. The production is in collaboration with the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, who has been instrumental in helping to make this project happen. The film is directed by Benedict Mirow of Nightfrog Films.

All artists in the film are appearing without a fee, and all artist royalties as well as a percentage of the profits will be donated to charity.

The film will also feature the remarkable 88 year old jazz musician and member of the „Ghetto Swingers“, Coco Schumann, visiting Theresienstadt again.

On October 12th Daniel and pianist Jeffrey Kahane will give the world première of Nico Muhly’s work „Compare Notes“, at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. The work has been commissioned by the McKim Fund on behalf of Daniel and Jeffrey. The recital will also feature works by Ravel, Brahms and Mendelssohn.

› DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON RELEASES „VIVALDI RECOMPOSED“

31.08.2012

Vivaldi Recomposed – the newest release in DG’s “Recomposed” series, due in US stores on October 16 – presents Daniel Hope with the Berlin Konzerthaus Chamber Orchestra conducted by André de Ridder, in a world-premiere performance of German-British composer Max Richter’s (Shutter Island and Waltz with Bashir) vivid re-imagining of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. A preview video can be seen here. Hope expressed his enthusiasm for Richter’s work, saying, “It’s as if Max has Vivaldi’s masterpiece, as heard and seen through 21st-century ears and eyes.”

› Daniel Hope presents a radio show on BBC

19.04.2012

Daniel Hope presents a two hour radio show for the BBC featuring some of his favorite music and musicians. He also talks about his collaborations with Yehudi Menuhin, Christian Thielemann, Menahem Pressler and Sting, amongst others.

Daniel Hope is featured in the Wall Street Journal, February 9. „The playing of the British violinist Daniel Hope, who is performing at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall this Sunday, is not just distinguished by its tonal beauty, but by its compelling rhetorical quality,“ writes Barrymore Laurence Scherer

British violinist Daniel Hope has signed a long-term extension to his recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon. The first project under the new agreement will be ‘Hollywood Exiles’, devoted to composers who fled the Nazis and settled in America.

‘Since signing my first contract with DG in 2006, I have been privileged to plan and work with the Yellow Label on eight diverse recordings, including music composed in Theresienstadt, a Baroque journey, a tribute to Joseph Joachim, Michael Tippett’s Triple Concerto and even a musical celebration of Frederick the Great,’ he said. ‘I am delighted that both my belief in the “concept album” and DG’s unique support and encouragement have enabled me to make a very personal musical statement.’

A member of the Beaux Arts Trio from 2002-2008, Hope is a regular soloist with leading orchestras and conductors, and the recipient of the German Record Critics’ Prize and five ECHO awards.

Gramophone Magazine writes: „Max Bruch was born on this day in 1838 – we recommend listening to Gramophone critics‘ preferred recording of his Violin Concerto No 1 on Daniel Hope’s album, The Romantic Violinist“.

› Documentary for ARTE about Frederick the Great

05.01.2012

Daniel Hope’s TV documentary for ARTE about Frederick the Great and his music will be broadcast on Sunday 8th January at 15:25. The following link contains a short clip of the film. Daniel performs range of music and interviews Christian Thielemann and Kristian Bezuidenhout as well.

Gramophone Magazine writes: „Max Bruch was born on this day in 1838 – we recommend listening to Gramophone critics‘ preferred recording of his Violin Concerto No 1 on Daniel Hope’s album, The Romantic Violinist“.

On 9th December, Deutsche Grammophon will release a very special new CD with Daniel Hope and Friends, dedicated to the music of King Frederick the Great and his court composers. This release is for the German market only, but can be downloaded on Itunes and Amazon from December 9.

› Daniel Hope appointed Visiting Professor in Violin by Royal Academy of Music

04.05.2011

The Royal Academy of Music is delighted that Daniel Hope DipRAM, FRAM has accepted the post of Visiting Professor in Violin. Jo Cole, Head of Strings, has announced that Daniel will be giving masterclasses and career workshops at the Academy when his performing engagements permit. The addition of this internationally-renowned performer to the Academy’s exceptional roster of strings professors represents the Academy’s continuing desire to appoint the very best of today’s active, thriving artists to teach the next generation of talented performers.

Daniel Hope said: „I am honoured and delighted to return to the institution that helped me so intensely to pursue my studies with Zakhar Bron. I hope that during a few visits each year, I shall have a chance to give something back to the Academy and to support young artists in their quest for musical inspiration as well as an international career.“

› Daniel Hope and Jeffrey Kahane triumph on USA Recital Tour

21.02.2011

February saw Daniel Hope and renowned pianist/conductor Jeffrey Kahane perform an extensive North American duo tour. The two colleagues prepared a characteristically ambitious program that covered the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, featuring Johannes Brahms’ Opus 78 G major sonata and César Franck’s 1886 sonata in A major, his only composition in the sonata genre. The earlier twentieth-century compositions were the 1927 sonata by Erwin Schulhoff, a composer murdered by the Nazis, followed by one of Olivier Messiaen’s earliest pieces of chamber music, a set of five variations on a theme composed as a wedding present for his first wife, the violinist Claire Delbos. Messiaen was also imprisoned by the Nazis as a POW, but survived.

The tour included performances at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, Los Angeles‘ Royce Hall and Vancouver’s Chan Center for the performing arts.
The press was unanimous in their praise for this oustanding duo:

San Francisco Chronicle, February 2011: “ In a world where classical concert programs spend so much time cycling endlessly through the same familiar repertoire, a program like Thursday’s exciting duo recital by violinist Daniel Hope and pianist Jeffrey Kahane comes as a welcome – and also infuriating – reminder of how much great music audiences are routinely missing……………Hope and Kahane gave it a marvelous performance. Just as beautiful was Messiaen’s „Theme and Variations,“…………Brahms‘ First Sonata sounded ripe and rich-toned……..the Franck Sonata in A Major moved with assurance from vigorous brilliance to delicacy and back again.“

San Francisco Examiner, February 2011: „Needless to say, both Hope and Kahane mustered that energy without sacrificing a sense of the formal sonata structures that provided a foundation for this tumult. The result was a stimulating, perhaps even refreshing, reminder of just how forceful the modernists of that time were in rejecting past traditions………Thus, as had been the case with the Brahms, this was a performance that found just the right balance between passionate expressiveness and solid respect for structural foundations……..Hope and Kahane performed it with all the respect it deserved, bringing a meditative conclusion to a thought-rich evening.“

The Vancouver Sun, February 2011: “ Beyond exceptional playing, the program had another important raison d’etre: two works that I don’t think have ever featured on Vancouver programs. The tragedy of Schulhoff and the great service done by musicians who are allowing us to rediscover his fine music is a compelling story all on its own. His Second Violin Sonata, written in the late 1920s….what a reading it got from the duo! Messiaen’s Theme and Variations, written in the early 30s when the composer was in his early 20s, is something of a miracle: every second of the work shows a composer who knew exactly what he wanted and exactly who he was. Remarkable.
And remarkable chamber playing from a spectacular duo.“

EntertainmentToday.net, February 2011: „Hope is a solo violinist, and Kahane is just as adept on the piano………..the two stood on equal footing as they led a rapt audience through some jarring pieces, some beautiful pieces, and some which alternated between the two within the same movements……..The music was brilliant, the stage banter was self-deprecating and humorous, and the history lessons were appreciated.“

The ARTE TV channel will broadcast Daniel Hope’s first „ARTE LOUNGE“ television show as presenter on Tuesday 15th February at 23:45h CET on the ARTE channel. During the show, which was filmed in a club in Barcelona, he performed with and interviewed a variety of artists such as cellist Gautier Capucon, bass René Pape and the Cuarteto Casals.

The second show will be aired on 8th March, with guests including cellist Stephen Isserlis, the French jazz singer Keren Ann and the „The Cor de Cambra del Palau de la Música Catalana“.

2010

› Documentary for ARTE about Frederick the Great

05.01.2012

Daniel Hope’s TV documentary for ARTE about Frederick the Great and his music will be broadcast on Sunday 8th January at 15:25. The following link contains a short clip of the film. Daniel performs range of music and interviews Christian Thielemann and Kristian Bezuidenhout as well.

› Daniel Hope rounds up an extraordinary 2010 with four spectacular New York concerts

31.12.2010

In a year that began with Daniel Hope performing to and addressing the German parliament in January 2010, December saw his return to New York for performances at Lincoln Center, the People’s Symphony and Carnegie Hall. He was joined by celebrated lute-player Paul O’Dette and a group of superb young musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for his „AIR“ programme of baroque music, a recital with young Israeli pianist Roman Rabinovich, and a performance of the Brahms Double Concerto at Carnegie Hall with cellist Paul Watkins, conducted by Jaime Laredo.

Vivien Schweitzer of the New York Times wrote: „…..Mr. Hope’s bow blurred over his instrument in a feat of impressive virtuosity…… a rendition notable for its rhythmic buoyancy, depth and improvisatory flair. ……. playing with lithe, soulful élan and a cleanly articulated sound. Mr. Hope and his colleagues also brought imaginative panache to their rocking rendition of Vivaldi’s Sonata for Two Violins…..Telemann’s Violin Concerto in A minor (was) given a brooding and fiery performance……..The encore was a lovely performance of Bach’s familiar “Air on the G String.”

Allan Kozinn of the New York Times said of the Carnegie Hall performance: „The violinist Daniel Hope and the cellist Paul Watkins each produced a rich, seductive tone and found a nuanced balance between the virtuosity and warmth that the Brahms Double Concerto demands. The orchestra’s contribution — solid, powerful and sharply articulated — kept the work’s inherent drama fully in focus.“

September 2010: Daniel Hope has just given two critically acclaimed performances of Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto at the new Copenhagen Concert Hall, with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and conductor Thomas Dausgaard.

Søren Schauser of the „Tidende Berlingske“ newspaper writes:
“Just play, or save the world at the same time? Daniel Hope wants to do both.
The British virtuoso with a clear vision ranks among the hottest names in classical music. Fortunately, the man stops by from time to time – like this week in the Danish Radio Concert Hall.

Fortunately? Yes. Because he produces a sound which is out of this world. His sky high notes float like honey into one’s ears, almost branding themselves there forever……..the air stands still under the sound of Hope’s violin. And, of course, Hope played a Schulhoff-piece as an encore – a composer who died in a Bavarian concentration camp. And for the second time; the air stands still. Brilliantly done……..”

Henrik Friis of the „Politiken“ newspaper writes:

”Violin-magician Daniel Hope proved to be exactly the happening, impressively versatile violinist that his steady stream of successful cd’s from all corners of classical music history have demonstrated. He appeared in Thursday’s concert with a playful yet poetic version of his compatriot Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto……..Hope did everything to keep a sense of danger in the material, and the combination of Britten’s surprising ways of reinventing old and worn out formulas, together with Hope’s lively expression, made the piece sound like a classic that you didn’t know you had missed. Few composers – and few artists like Hope and Dausgaard – can spellbind a whole auditorium with a simple scale …….At the same time they succeeded in making the instruments dance together……..it was profoundly musical.—“

On August 28 at 5 p.m. CET, some of Europe’s finest musicians from a variety of genres will come together to perform a special concert for an important cause. With the call to action „Tu was!”, these exciting artists seek to raise awareness about climate protection inspired by the “Rainforest Project”, a foundation dedicated to ending rainforest destruction founded by His Royal Highness Prince Charles, who himself is supporting the concert.

› Daniel Hope steps in at short notice to perform Britten’s Violin Concerto

08.06.2010

Daniel Hope has been invited by the London Symphony Orchestra to step in a short notice to replace his colleague, Janine Jansen, who has been taken ill. Daniel will perform the Violin Concerto by Benjamin Britten, accompanied by the LSO and Sir Mark Elder. The concert takes place on:

Rock legend Sting has invited Daniel to join him onstage during the opening concert of his orchestral world tour. The concert will take place on May 26th in the German town of Wolfsburg as part of the Movimentos Festival.

Sting and Daniel have performed and recorded together in the past. In November 2009 both musicians were interviewed together for the Frankfurt Allgemeine newspaper. You can also see Daniel’s video blog with Sting in the „Broadcaster“ section of DanielHope.com

› „Ba-ROCK“ project at the Beethovenfest in Bonn on 18th September 2010

18.05.2010

Daniel Hope Daniel launches his „Ba-ROCK“ project at the Beethovenfest in Bonn, concert to take place on 18th September.

On March 1st Daniel Hope launches a 9-concert tour around Germany and Switzerland, performing highlights from his new Deutsche Grammophon album „AIR“. Venues include the Laeiszhalle Hamburg (March 2) and Konzerthaus Berlin (March 3). The tour concludes with performances featuring the German television host and acclaimed author Roger Willemsen.

› Daniel Hope to perform in the Bundestag, German parliament, on 27th January

15.01.2010

Daniel Hope has received an official invitation from the President of the German Parliament (Bundestag), Dr Norbert Lammert to perform in the Germany parliament (Bundestag, formerly known as Reichstag).

The 27th January is the day on which Germany officially recognises all victims of the Nazis, and there is traditionally a state act of remembrance. At this year’s ceremony the guest speaker will be the President of the State of Israel, Shimon Peres. In addition the Chancellor, Mrs Angela Merkel, the entire German cabinet and all ministers will be present.

Daniel Hope will perform his own arrangement of „Kaddish“ by Ravel for solo violin during the ceremony. Hope’s grand parents and great grandparents were forced to flee Berlin in 1938.

The ceremony will be broadcast live on German television an 12 noon CET.

Daniel Hope will make his debut as television presenter in a live TV show on January 9th at 20:15 (CET). „Die schönsten Opern aller Zeiten“ („The greatest operas of all time“) is a one-time production by Germany’s ZDF and 3sat television channels. Since May 2009, complete opera productions have been broadcast in their entirety on the 3sat TV Channel, which is renowned for its cultural content and award-winning documentaries. Television viewers have subsequently been given the chance to vote on their favourite opera, and the shortlist of 10 operas will be the focus of the show on 9th February, at the end of which, one ‚winner‘ will be announced.

The venue for the show is Berlin’s innovative Radialsystem . During the evening, arias from the 10 operas will be performed live by a range of some of the world’s finest singers, including Annette Dasch, Joseph Calleja, Mojca Erdmann, Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Ermonela Jaho and Kate Aldrich. The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Marco Armiliato. Other guests include Christian Thielemann, Rene Jacobs and Edda Moser.

Daniel Hope will present the show live, together with his co-presenter, Austrian television celebrity Mirjam Weichselbraun.

The show will be broadcast Europe-wide on the 3sat Channel, January 9th, from 20:15 (CET) to 22:15 (CET), and repeated at a later date on ZDF Theaterkanal.

2009

› Daniel Hope performs live onstage with Sting in Baden Baden, December 17

14.12.2009

Daniel Hope will perform for the first time live with Rock legend Sting, at Baden Baden’s Festspielhaus on December 17th. It is one of only four worldwide concerts that Sting is giving to promote his new album, „If on a winter’s night“.

It will be the first time that the two musicians will appear live onstage together.

On DanielHope.com you can see Daniel’s private video blog documenting a day he recently spent with Sting, and read the two musicians‘ joint interview in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

› Hope triumphs with Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko

13.12.2009

Daniel Hope gave two critically acclaimed performances of the Elgar Violin Concerto in December 2009 with the Oslo Philharmonic conducted by Vasily Petrenko. It was Hope’s second visit to Oslo with the orchestra. The reviews are unequivocal. Here is a selection from Oslo’s two leading newspapers:

Aftenposten, Oslo, 7th December 2009

„Vasily Petrenko and Daniel Hope delivered nothing less than a gorgeous concert this week…………..The work is incredibly demanding for both soloist and orchestra. However, Daniel Hope is a suitably brilliant performer and interpreter. The way he forced this 50-minute long musical development into one single stretch without even one uninteresting minute is nothing short of miraculous…….

Hope could gather the entire British Commonwealth in one sul tasto, and his phrasing superiorly unfolded the special, heroic, and nostalgic feeling of life……Indeed, had George V known that a speech of such rhetorical power awaited him in 2009, he would have kept himself alive until this day. The Cadenza, like the irreversible beginning of the Empire’s sunset, was an epitaph worthy of a king.

Dagbladet, Oslo, 4th December 2009

„POWERFUL“ Daniel Hope – A splendid performer

The violinist Daniel Hope has a remarkably intense sound. Last night he played Elgar with the Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko conducting.

It turned into a meeting of minds, with Hope who, to put it mildly, extracted the most of what Elgar had put into the score and, in the process, highlighted some of the more problematic moments in the violin concerto too…….Hope was completely unaffected by this and merely unfolded the palette…..the entire journey from the opening movement to the work’s most beautiful section, unquestionably the slow second movement, we heard a Hope who played without compromise.

The slow and powerfully expressive parts of the concerto showed us a violinist with especially remarkable qualities. The varied and nuanced playing extracted the finest register in the music – luminously clear and without any reservation.

› Daniel Hope receives Grammy nomination

03.12.2009

Daniel Hope has yesterday received his fifth Grammy nomination, this time for his 2008 Deutsche Grammophon recording of Vivaldi Concertos, directing the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He is also joined by the award-winning mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter.

Daniel Hope will give his third performance at Berlin’s legendary Yellow Lounge, on Monday 16th November. Celebrating 15 years of the Yellow Lounge at the funky „Cookies“ night club on Friedrichstrasse, Hope will be joined by a group of phenomenal baroque musicians to perform excerpts from his AIR Album, which was recently released by Deutsche Grammophon and is enjoying its place in the Top 10 classical charts.

The Yellow Lounge, created by Universal and Deutsche Grammophon, presents the world’s finest artists in a club atmosphere, with dj’s and vj’s mixing classical music and visual art.

Daniel Hope will be on the road with rock-legend Sting on Friday, 6th November. Hope will interview Sting for Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, and the two musicians will then appear together on the German TV talkshow, „3 nach 9“, which celebrates its 35th anniversary as one of the most important on television in Germany.

The show will be aired live on 6th November at 22:00 CET. For more information please click here: Radio Bremen
Daniel Hope can also be heard as a guest artist on Sting’s new album, „If on a winter’s night……“

Read an interview with Hope about his connection to Sting, and what it was like to record with him: Interview

› Hope and Brandauer on stage in Vienna and Berlin

03.11.2009

Daniel Hope and his close friend, the renowned actor Klaus Maria Brandauer (‚Mephisto‘, ‚Out of Africa‘) perform an evening of music and text about the German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was imprisoned and murdered by the Nazis. There will be two performances:

› Daniel Hope in Dresden on 18th October to receive his 5th „ECHO Klassik“ Prize

15.10.2009

This Sunday, Daniel Hope will be awarded Germany’s most important record prize, the ECHO Klassik, for the fifth time. In a star-studded ceremony, televised by Germany’s ZDF channel, Hope will be at the Semperoper in Dresden on Octber 18th to receive his trophy.

He will also present a special prize to the ReSonanz & AkzepTanz project, for their outstanding work in bringing music to underprivileged children in Germany.

Other performers at the ceremony will include Elina Garanca, Plácido Domingo, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Sol Gabetta.

The Gala can be viewed Europe-wide on the ZDF TV Channel at 22:00 CET on Sunday, 18th October. 2 million viewers are expected to follow the show.

September 18th, 2009: Deutsche Grammophon releases Daniel Hope’s latest album, which promises to be his most exciting to date. Entitled „Air – a baroque journey“, it blends some of the most popular baroque music with lesser known composers whose music is stunning, magical and lively.

Classic FM says of AIR:„This is a beautiful recording, transporting you all over Europe with some of the most delicate playing and articulation. Hope’s masterful interpretation of the challenging violin parts of Matteis and Geminiani is a joy to listen to…“

To hear excerpts from AIR, or to watch the video, please click on the cover, or visit the CD page on danielhope.com

› Daniel Hope launches the Yellow Lounge in Tokyo, 18th September

10.09.2009

Daniel Hope will launch Universal’s Yellow Lounge in Japan, at a special event in Tokyo on Friday 18th September. Hope has performed a number of times for the Yellow Lounge in Berlin, which places classical music in a club atmosphere, blending DJs and VJs. He also launched the series in New York in 2008.

This is part of Hope’s ten day visit to Tokyo in which he will perform the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in televised concerts with the NHK Symphony Orchestra and a number of additional chamber music performances.

Following the success of Daniel Hope’s first book, a memoir entitled „Familienstücke„, which was on the German bestseller list, this new book is a personal guide to what happens in the concert hall – what to expect, what to wear, who’s who on the platform – written for people who have never experienced the joy of a live concert and who hesitate about participating in what might seem to the unitiated as an intellectual ritual requiring special knowledge and skills in order to be a member of the audience.

Daniel Hope recalls a number of anecdotal adventures, and traces the myths and clichés of the goings-on during a performance. He also examines the historical context of the so-called rules of the concert scene, eradicating a number of them in the process.

His Deutsche Grammophon recording of a kaleidoscope of Vivaldi’s music, in which Hope directs the Chamber Orchestra of Europe from the violin, picked up Germany’s most prestigious recording prize, to be awarded in a televised Gala ceremony at the Dresdner Semperoper, on October 18th.

Daniel Hope’s stunning new CD is being released this month across Europe. The US release is set for the beginning of 2009.

Hope’s long-awaited second Deutsche Grammophon album is an explosive kaleidoscope of Vivaldi’s magical music, including La Follia and Tempesta di Mare. It finds him reunited with the esteemed Chamber Orchestra of Europe for their third partnership in the recording studio. Hope has chosen a selection of the composer’s greatest violin concertos „as good as any of The Four Seasons“ (Hope). Presented by passionate, energetic performers this music is guaranteed to provide an uplifting and scintillating listening experience.

Vivacity and technical brilliance combine with Vivaldi’s timeless appeal for an energetic formula.

› New York Times and Herald Tribune feature major portraits of Daniel Hope

25.08.2009

The New York Times carried a full page portrait of Daniel Hope in its Arts and Leisure section, January 13th. The same interview ran a few days later in the International Herald Tribune. In a piece entitled, „How’s the family? Fascinating“, Matthew Gurewitsch interviews Hope about his latest book, his extraordinary family story and his musical journey to date.

› Violinist Daniel Hope celebrates Mendelssohn, a very special citizen of Hamburg

24.08.2009

Daniel Hope’s name is mentioned not just in the context of a violin virtuoso but increasingly as an initiator or even presenter of exceptional musical events.

Now Hope has a new theme which is also close to his heart: the music of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and the city of Hamburg. „I’m closely linked to Hamburg,“ the British violinist said just before a rehearsal for a Vivaldi programme which he is currently touring throughout Germany. „Many people are celebrating Mendelssohn this year. But I didn’t realise that he was born in 1809 in Hamburg. Most of my friends in the city didn’t know that either. So I decided spontaneously to do something.“

“Spontaneous“ and “do something“ are obviously two notions which match Hope’s style. Or as the New York Times wrote: „You never know what the brilliant violinist Daniel Hope will do next.“ But there are few artistic personalities who have either the network or more importantly the will to undertake such projects. His wealth of ideas will certainly be welcome at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, where Hope has agreed to act as Artistic Partner from summer 2010.

The world celebrates the bicentenary of the birth of Felix Mendelssohn on 3 February 2009. Hope began to plan the concert at the beginning of January. He started off by persuading the North German radio to broadcast the concert live, and to stream it via the web. Then he called Germany’s Actor of the Year 2008 Ulrich Matthes, Simone Young (music director of the Hamburg State Opera) and the Latvian pianist Lauma Skride, who lives in Hamburg. Amazingly all three were free, despite the short notice.

“All I had to do then was find a venue,“ Hope adds. “Last year I played a benefit concert in the Anglican church of St Thomas Becket in Hamburg. A beautiful church, a real jewel, which hardly anyone in Hamburg seems to know, despite the fact that the parish has existed since 1612. And by an extraordinary coincidence it’s almost diagonally opposite the site of the house in which Mendelssohn was born. As an Englishman I thought that particularly suitable: Mendelssohn loved England, the English love his music, and he had his greatest international triumphs in London.“

Hope asked the Hamburg events company, Highlife, with whom he had already organised the Berlin „Tu Was!“ event, to take charge. The result is a wonderful combination of words and music, which includes Mendelssohn’s D minor piano trio, works by Mendelssohn’s sister Fanny, and some of the Songs without Words. Mendelssohn’s own words will be delivered by Ulrich Matthes. And the opportunity of experiencing Australian-born Simone Young at the piano rather than on the conductor’s podium is not to be missed.

„As much as I love and revere Brahms, the residents of Hamburg need to know that Mendelssohn was also a scion of the city,“ says Hope. „And what better way to celebrate him than with great music and good friends.“

The former passenger departure terminal of Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport will be transformed for the first time into a concert hall and multi-genre arts venue on Sunday, November 9, when British violinist Daniel Hope, with the support of some of Germany’s most prominent political figures, comes together with fellow classical, rock, and jazz musicians and other special guests for “Tu Was!” – the German term meaning “Do something!” – a special event commemorating the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

“Tu was!”, a collage of music, words, pictures, and video installations, was conceived by Hope, who was inspired by distinguished British historian Sir Martin Gilbert, and his book Kristallnacht: Prelude to Destruction, a collection of personal reminiscences of the so-called “Reichskristallnacht” of late 1938. On the night of November 9-10, 1938, Jewish homes and businesses were attacked and half of the synagogues and prayer houses in Germany and Austria were badly damaged or totally destroyed in an orgy of violence propagated by the members of the Nazi SA and SS units. The following day, over 30,000 male Jews were deported to concentration camps, before the eyes of the international press, continuing the Nazi reign of terror that ended in the cataclysm of the “final solution” and the Holocaust.

Daniel Hope comments:

I came across Gilbert’s book recently, and while I knew about the “Reichskristallnacht”, it wasn’t until I read the book that the historical consequences of that night’s events became clear to me. The horrifyingly meticulous description of the violence against the Jews was utterly overwhelming. Since then the question as to what I would have done in such circumstances has begun to haunt me.

“Reichskristallnacht” took place 70 years ago and yet its consequences are still reflected in today’s society. Situations that require civil courage, individual or collective, continue to arise, whether it’s an individual attack on a defenseless fellow human being or the brutality of groups such as rightwing radical skinheads. Remembering the 1938 pogroms is a much-needed symbolic action in our society today. It echoes a call to all civilized people never again to ignore unacceptable violence by inaction.

For Hope, whose family was forced to flee Berlin and the Nazis, the event has urgent political importance as well as obvious personal significance. Throughout his career, Hope has advocated – both in live performance and with recordings – the music of the so-called “Entartete” composers – those composers deemed “degenerate” and subsequently destroyed by the Nazis.

Daniel Hope not only raised the money to make this project happen, he also persuaded leading political figures to back it. “Tu was!” now has the support of the Foreign Minister of the German Federal Republic, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, as well as the Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, and his Cultural Minister, André Schmitz. The Jewish community of Berlin and their Chair, Ms. Lala Süsskind, have also pledged their help and support, along with many other individuals and companies.

The proceeds from the evening will be donated to the Freya von Moltke Foundation. Ms. von Moltke, now 97, was a participant in the Kreisau Circle, the anti-Nazi resistance group co-founded by her husband, Helmuth James Graf von Moltke. During World War II, her husband acted to subvert German human-rights abuses in territories occupied by Germany. With the Kreisau Circle, he discussed the future of a Germany founded on moral and democratic principles, such as could develop after Hitler, and was subsequently executed for treason by the Nazi government. Daniel Hope’s great aunt, Marlene Maertens, worked closely with Freya von Moltke after the war, to help refugees who had been forced to flee Germany.